Putting the cart before the horse

Imagine if I was offered the following opportunity:

Take a job in Europe or USA and make 10 times the money you make now in Brazil?

I could say, "I don’t have a car or home in the USA or Europe. How am I going to work without a car and place to live? As soon as I find a car and a place to live, I can take the new job."

Does this logic seem strange?

In June this year I was invited to an event at the UK Embassy, at Brasília, where the primary objective of our hosts was to present studies about the viability and social-economic impacts of licensed gambling in Brazil. The presentations and discussions were hosted for the benefit of Congressmen, Members of Presidential Staff, Ministries of Tourism and Finance and, of course, of Caixa Econômica Federal (Brazilian Federal Bank supporting public lottery and scratch cards).

Out of this discourse, one specific point that particularly caught my attention was the fact that Caixa Econômica Federal believes that legalization, at this time, is dangerous because they don’t have enough staff to manage the risks of this new economic activity.

If I am not mistaken, there are 17 employees to supervise lotteries and this number is not sufficient to manageall new gambling verticals, mainly on-line gambling.

According to a high-level executive of Caixa I spoke to, as soon as they have an appropriate structure to oversee gambling, they will support new gambling verticals.

We really need to change both the direction and speed of changes here.

WITOLDO HENRICH JUNIOR

Mr. Hendrich is a highly educated and seasoned business veteran based in Brazil, bringing essential experience to his position overseeing the regional business operations of Online IPS’ Brazil entity a nd Latin American payment services initiatives. Mr. Hendrich holds Administrative and Law degrees, as well as post-graduate credentials in Business Negotiation, Contract Analysis and Tax Law. Mr. Hendrich founded and continues to operate Hendrich Advogados law firm in Rio de Janeiro, and formally advising local corporate and government entities and holds ongoing professorships and lecturing positions at select universities and legal institutions in Brazil.