GMB - A new edition of SAGSE, with what expectations do you come this year?
Eric Benchimol - As every year we come with much desire. We are expanding our presence in the Argentine market, starting to install casinos management systems. We have also launched our GameStar machines and Gold Club roulettes, always working with many expectations.
How do you see the Argentine market affected at this time by an economic crisis?
Obviously we are a little worried, but we know the local market, as well as the Latin American one in general. And we know that Argentina has these shocks from time to time and also that it has a rapid recovery capacity. So we trust that it will come out of this pothole quickly.
So far this year, how do you see the Latin American region in general?
Latin America is our natural region, our main business market. We have been recording important growth rates working very well in Colombia, Peru, Argentina and other countries, perhaps smaller in terms of gambling such as Paraguay, Chile, and others in Central America and the Caribbean. We can say that we are growing everywhere. We are very satisfied.
Related with Latin America, it is important to ask you about Brazil, a huge market that has long been expected to regulate the activity. How do you see it?
As soon as the market opens up, we are ready to start working on systems. We have casino management systems that are fully adapted to what seems to be required by the Brazilian market. In that sense, for us it can be a very important market. And with respect to machines, we will have to see what happens in terms of regulation, but the sure thing is that we will be looking forward to working in such a large market with so much potential.
With regard to news or comments coming from Brazil, are you optimistic or pessimistic about an opening in the medium term?
It is difficult to comment because we see it more as spectators, from the outside and without so much internal information. In any case, we believe that at some point it has to be opened because maintaining such a large market without regularizing is atypical. In addition, not having a legal framework does not generate that, in this case gaming, does not exist. It generates the oppposite, as it increases the illegality with all the problems that this produces.
Once regulated, do you think it will be easy for Win Systems to enter the market, considering the language issues, customs, norms, etc?
It is never easy to enter a country so big that has its culture and idiosyncrasy, but at the level of products we are ready. And since this process has been delaying so many years, the truth is that we have already prepared ourselves and we believe that our income will not take so long.
Source: Exclusive GMB
