GMB – What was new at Amusnet at SBC Rio?
Marco Pequeno – The first new thing was a cocktail party we held for the Brazilian market and it was a pleasure to welcome you there. It was a spectacular event with a sensational view of Rio de Janeiro. Well, in terms of games and our work, I think our main new thing is the certification of games, which is progressing. We have almost 200 games already certified for the Brazilian market.
We are very ready, with a company in Brazil, operating from São Paulo. The company has been open for some time now and, in terms of games, we will have some new things next month. We should launch a customized game for the Brazilian market.
Does this increasingly demonstrate Amusnet's vocation for localization and for Brazil?
Exactly. That is always the goal. We even had an episode at the event we held for the market where things happened in the Brazilian way. The entire event was supposed to be Brazilian. The menu was Brazilian, the place was very Brazilian and important to Brazilian culture. And I heard some comments from people outside Brazil trying to understand what was happening and saying: "Calm down, this is how it works here."
We know how to do things, we know how to move forward quickly. So, it is super important that we localize more and more, not just the games. As I told you, we will have a customized game for the Brazilian market that we will launch next month. But the operation needs to be Brazilian. The understanding has to be Brazilian, the culture is Brazilian.
We have our own culture and we need to work within it. There is no point in trying to apply things from Europe, trying to apply a European way of doing things here in Brazil. It will not work. Everything needs to be completely localized.
The certification of the games itself takes into account this localization aspect, which was very demanding. Were all the games certified smoothly, or was there a need to modify and adjust something in the games?
It all went very smoothly because the games were already ready. They are games that already complied with other regulations. Of course, there were adaptations, because the Brazilian regulations required some requirements that were not part of GLI-19. But the necessary adaptations were small, which other providers also had to make.
The regulation in Brazil was different. It wasn't just a pure GLI. There were about 10-15% of new requirements. So, some adaptations were made. But nothing that was too difficult. The games were already there, with GLI-19. For us, they were small adaptations to comply with an important regulation. We want to work within a regulated market, respecting the regulations and certifications necessary for the market to be healthy at all times.
How do you evaluate these two months of regulation? How have operators that work with Amusnet products been behaving in the market?
In my opinion, the market has welcomed the regulation. We continue to see adjustments being made by the Prize and Betting Secretariat, but this is normal in new regulations. These adjustments will continue to happen for quite some time, such as in relation to payment methods and how the operator acts in the prevention of fraud.
As providers, we do not need a license, but we do need game certification. And we are more than willing to collaborate with this. We collaborate with the already regulated market in our own way, without there being any obligation, which is by not allowing unlicensed operators to work with our games. I was asked by an important client about how we are dealing with illegal, unauthorized operators. I answered: We turn them off. There are no illegal operators for us. If there are, they are illegal even for us. If I see traffic on my panel from an unlicensed operator, it is taking my game in some way that it should not. And we are going to block this. We only work with the regulated market.
If it is state or federal, we will respond to all the needs and requirements of each license. If it is a site that does not even have a state license, I will not work with it. There is no way. I will respect my regulated operators who are doing things the right way.
What are Amusnet's medium-term plans?
In the medium term, we want to be increasingly established in Brazil, with solid partnerships with operators. We want to work together with them in every aspect of their operator operations, so that we can be successful together. We will do everything we can together.
Leaving the iGaming market aside, we know the quality and potential of Amusnet's games in physical casinos. Is the company already thinking about this future legalized market in Brazil?
Yes. We have the machines here. We brought the machines precisely to show that we are ready for the physical market, when it is regulated. These machines are here with temporary authorization. It is important to say that they will not stay here after the event; they will leave Brazil.
We want to show that we are ready to serve the physical market as well. Our machines are state-of-the-art and are in the best casinos in the world, with impressive features.
A machine supports several games. You can choose the game you want to play. It has all the features, from accepting credit cards to charging cell phones, among others. These are state-of-the-art machines, with several models, including options that offer the best cost-benefit for operators.
Source: Exclusive GMB
