GMB - Ricardo, you have been fighting for the legalization of the gaming sector in Brazil for many years. Talk a little about this trajectory.
Ricardo Namen - It all started in the mid-1980s, when we founded the National Committee for the Legalization of Casinos in Brazil, whose first president was Ciro Batelli. As this topic was taboo at the time, the strategy was to travel throughout Brazil, promoting regional meetings with tourist communities, businessmen, the press and authorities, seeking to clarify public opinion on the positive and negative aspects of the legalization of casinos in Brazil. I can say that we incited the debate on so many different fronts that the issue had to be faced by our Legislative Branch.
After two years of doing this work, we felt that we should concentrate efforts in Brasilia, seeking to clarify the parliamentarians and members of the Executive of these positive aspects in order to reduce resistance to the issue, which at that time was quite strong. I moved to Brasília and started this work.
We had the opportunity to be at the National Congress daily and went knocking "door to door" to speak individually with all federal deputies, in addition to senators and countless government officials. It was a "little ant" work, but I am convinced that it was from this real campaign, where we demonstrated, among other economic factors, the alignment with the majority popular will of Brazilians, which began to decrease the resistance and the taboo around the theme.
We continued to do this work uninterruptedly, and for years, walking the corridors of the National Congress almost daily, defending this flag, when I ended up assuming the chairmanship of the Committee, an entity that I had the honor of presiding over for 18 years.
During all these years, we had the opportunity to travel to more than 70 countries on all continents, always studying the operability of the gaming market, especially the casino industry and also promoting dozens of days, meetings, seminars and lectures throughout Brazil.
Evidently, with this accumulated experience and knowledge of the international market, it became inevitable to come to work in the so-called "Gaming Industry". I’v worked in Caesars Palace, IGT International, Sodak Gaming International, Vision Matic, Amaya Gaming and Rational Group.
With regard to other games, such as jogo do bicho, casino, bingo, etc., what is your opinion on the matter?
It amazes me a lot when I hear that the question of games in Brazil has to be better debated and better studied. This is absurd!!! Few things in Brazil have been discussed, studied, and debated as the legalization of gaming in Brazil. Personally, I spent the last 38 years of my life following more than a hundred projects in Brasília on this topic.
The Special Committee of the Chamber of Deputies to deal with the Regulatory Framework for Gaming in Brazil was one of the most complex and profound debates held on this topic in the world. We spent almost three years listening to experts, government agencies, legislators, that is, all market segments. Authorities from all over the planet had the opportunity to be heard by this Special Commission.
The result of this work was a final report transformed into a Bill, which, in my opinion, was one of the best made and well elaborated projects and which met the wishes of all types of games and the entire market.
Why during the work of the Special Commission did we see you acting strongly in the online gaming segment?
We've spent the past few years developing work I'm proud of for Pokerstars. In fact, due to a personal friendship with the CEO of the company Mr. David Baazov, we accepted the invitation to advise the company in Brazil, whose activity was already growing exponentially and legal complications constantly haunted its operation on Brazilian soil. Even after David left, our contract was maintained by his successor, Mr. Rafi Ashkenazi.
At that time, there was a serious problem that compromised the company's image. Once this problem was solved, we faced the strong resistance of the casino sector seeking to exclude the segment of the "online" game from the final text of the "Regulatory Framework for Gaming" that was being prepared by the Special Commission, as there was no consensus. It was a very hard, difficult, but successful inclusion work.
These victories were highly celebrated by everyone, not only at Pokerstars, but throughout the online market in the world. However, with regard to Pokerstars, I prefer not to speak out anymore, as we are currently working on a consensual termination with The Stars Group and Flutter Entertainment, the current owners of the brand.
Currently, I dedicate myself more to the activity "online", a fascinating modality. At the moment I cannot reveal the names of the companies for which we are working, but as soon as possible I will disclose our new projects.
How do you see the legalization of sports betting in Brazil?
The sports betting market and the step that Congress took in approving the provisional measure, is perhaps the most important in the history of the legalization of gaming in Brazil. It seems that the government and Congress are beginning to be in tune with the majority will of society. It is a giant step in the face of decades of inertia and invites the continuation of the debate that will one day culminate in the legalization of casinos. Brazil can no longer live in that much make-believe and continue abdicating the gigantic economic and tourist potential that legalization promotes.
The whole world has already legalized the activity. Brazil now takes the first step and opens up a perspective that gradually other modalities are equally legalized and regulated in the way that best serves the public interest, as there will always be an entrepreneur to offer what society wants. So, let it be legal. We open a perspective that, once this first obstacle is broken, the other types of games will be approved and regulated by the government.
Since you talked about regulation, what would be your perception of what the government is preparing?
The slowness that the government has shown in presenting the final regulation, in my view, seems to be fully justified by the way in which the Brazilian authorities are dealing with the matter.
Public consultations, participation in national and international events, hearings and dialogue with the main entities representing the market, such as Abrabincs, Abra, IJL, Ajes and Able, among others, signal that the regulation of the activity to be presented to society it has everything to be one of the most modern in the market worldwide.
The only concern I have is that the expectation of opening the Brazilian market - undoubtedly one of the largest in the world - has strict compliance not only for the Brazilian businessman, but also for the multinational giants of the sector.
Leave your final message. When do you think we can have a gaming market working in Brazil?
First of all, I would like to send a message of optimism. It is necessary to understand that there has been a phenomenal evolution in the way that society, the media, and the authorities see the gaming activity.
It used to be discussed whether Brazil should reopen the sector or not. This discussion is out of date. Today, the path that Brazil must follow is discussed: to continue with illegal gambling or to regulate in an appropriate manner all types of gambling. With that, we will generate thousands of jobs, collect billions of dollars in taxes and end one of the biggest hypocrisies in the country.
Source: Exclusive GMB
