All experts believe the time is now. They defended the authorization model, as it is more agile and transparent than the concession, admitted that technically Brazil is prepared for gaming and that sports betting paved the way for serious discussion of the gaming sector as a whole.
When starting the panel, Witordo Hendrich Jr. chose to address the current legislative moment in relation to the activity. “I've seen over time a negative Chamber, a positive one and another undecided about the regulation of the activity, as well as an evangelical caucus totally against and another one, conformed. Today 40% of the Parliament is made up of members of this branch. I've seen the Congress split between casino in resort and European model casino, so I want to know what it's all like right now.”
Magno José, President of Brazil’s Legal Gaming Institute, used a phrase that can sum up his current impression about the movements in the Brazilian Legislative: “I would say that soft water in rock lasts so long it hits until it pierces. I prefer the word 'it goes now'. A group of deputies who supported the election of the current President of the Chamber, Arthur Lira, had asked for this issue to be returned to the Congress' agenda. After his election, he called the deputies that form the Parliamentary Front for the Approval of Gaming and members of the Tourism Commission and created a Working Group to review the substitute elaborated to forward Bill 442/91,” he narrated.
According to him, “only four federal deputies are more radical and will rebel against the approval of the regulatory framework for gaming, while the others are not. Therefore, the WG parliamentarians in favor of legalization are positioning themselves to show that the best path for the country is to legalize the sector and create very clear rules.”
The approval of sports betting is a reality and the companies that are operating have brought the casino online on their platforms, which is why Magno José said that the WG addressed precisely this aspect in order to approve the game. “I'm very optimistic, but to be clear, I say that the strategy is not to approve this year. We need to move forward and improve the environment so that next year we can seek approval,” he believed.
Thomas Carvalhaes, Regional Director Brazil of Hero Gaming/AmuletoBet, commented that “the market is increasingly promising in terms of approval of the activity. I was never of the opinion to wait for things to happen. It is not the operator's fault whether the market is going through a regulatory process or not.”
"The regulator is the one who has to take on the responsibility of approving the activity, but I understand that things are happening right now and expectations have changed a lot, giving signs that the state structure itself is moving forward with the proposal in order to accelerate the approval. So much so that thanks to the work carried out by SECAP, there was a change in the issue of taxation of sports betting and this is already a great advance,” he highlighted.
Ricardo Magri, Eightroom's Commercial Director, recalled that Brazil has been “a promise for years, but we are in a phase of progress and it is very interesting for operators who come to the country now.”
Regarding financial transactions, Leo Baptista, CEO of Pay4Fun, said that Brazil is more than prepared for this: “Our Brazilian payment system and internet banking, which work very well, makes the operation a lot easier. Even the local boleto, which has been in vogue for some years, is now dead. Today we have the extremely agile PIX system, which guarantees security, transparency and speed in payment methods for the sector.”
Witoldo asked Neil Montgomery, a partner at Montgomery & Associados, if the time is right to talk about the concession or authorization model. “This is the old discussion about which model to adopt. The concession, as it involves a bidding process, takes longer and is easier to be prosecuted. Today Brazil has between 400 and 500 sports betting houses operating in the country, so I understand that authorization is the most appropriate model, not involving the limitation of the number of operators," he explained, noting that it is a much faster and more transparent process.
Montgomery said that to serve the timeline until World Cup 2022, “the authorization model that allows this entire market to be legalized would be much better for the operator and even more so for the government, which will see greater generation of taxes and jobs and , also, for the player, who will be more protected.”
Source: GMB
