POTENTIAL EXPANSION OPPORTUNITIES 

Featuring regional experts from Asia Pac, Latin America, the US and EMEA, the “Speculation and Innuendo – the Current State of Potential Expansion Opportunities in Global Gaming” panel at the IAGA Summit Belfast will take a look at near-term opportunities, discuss the hurdles impeding progress and discuss the realities behind gaming expansion in areas like the middle east and Asia. G3 speaks to the session speakers about the markets with the greatest potential for expansion and growth in the near future. Speaking at the event, Pedro Trengrouse singles out Brazil.

The Brazil gaming market

Once upon a time, there was a boy tasked with watching over a flock of sheep. To entertain himself, he repeatedly cried out a wolf attack. Each time, people would come to aid, but it was a lie. One day, a real wolf appeared, and the boy cried out for help, but everybody assumed he was lying again. The wolf killed several sheep, and the boy learned a valuable lesson.
This popular tale somehow reflects the status of gaming regulation in Brazil. Politicians often state it is about to happen. There are many legislative bills to be voted, decrees to be issued, regulations to be put in place. Brazil has forever been at the brink of a sea-change in regulated gaming. Is the wolf really coming now?

President Lula’s government is promising to regulate sports betting, allowed by law in 2018. The President of the Senate, Senator Rodrigo Pacheco, told BBC that the project regulating gaming will be voted soon. The President of the House of Representatives, Congressman Arthur Lira, is also a strong supporter of gaming regulation. As Michel Houellebecq, l’enfant terrible of French literature, would say: anything can happen, especially nothing.

For many years, games of chance were largely forbidden in Brazil, allegedly based on religious grounds, which is in itself contradictory. Santa Casa has been operating lottery games in Portugal since 1783 and proceeds from lotteries, bingos, raffles etc. have always been used to raise funds for many churches around the world, even St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This long history of prohibition has resulted in an environment where Brazilians have been gambling illegally, the fiscus is not able to tax and the country lacks proper regulations aimed at protecting the interests of minors, punters and their families.

The fact of the matter is: the wolf is there.
“Laissez faire, laissez aller, laissez passer.”

Brazilian gaming market has been left alone to operate with no government intervention and gaming is considered a contravention, which in criminal law is a minor infraction, with light penalties. For instance, according to Fundação Getulio Vargas, the most prestigious Brazilian think tank, there are 447 million digital devices (computer, notebook, tablet and smartphone) in use in Brazil (corporate and domestic), i.e. more than 2 digital devices per inhabitant. Hence, with more than 3.000 websites advertising broadly and operating freely, offering sports betting and all sorts of casino games, gaming is already everywhere.

Unfortunately, the industry hasn’t always helped itself and it would certainly be key if the gaming industry would speak and act in a more coordinated way, which will most definitely require a more collaborative agenda amongst industry stakeholders to, quoting the American Gaming Association’s mission, foster a policy and business environment where legal, regulated gaming thrives.

Brazil’s potential to become one of the world’s largest gaming market is undisputed. Being one of the world’s biggest economies, with a population over 210 million people, Brazil is a superlative country and it deserves permanent attention, in spite of having been crying non-existing wolves sometimes.