This is a global market of around USD$22 billion with a growth rate of 9.5% in the last year, with thousands of adherents, but without any kind of federal regulation. We are talking about fantasy sports, one of the most known and practiced modalities in the virtual world today.
Regulated and recognized as a skill sport in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, in Brazil the modality is in limbo and there is no regulation in force, which creates uncertainty for players who want to invest here.
“Brazil has a very incipient market when compared to the United States, for example. This is because there is still a legal uncertainty for the modality in the country. We don't have legislation that brings security to players and companies that want to invest in the segment,” explains Rafael Marchetti Marcondes, Head of Legal of Rei do Pitaco, the leading fantasy sports startup in Brazil.
Founded in 2019, the company already has more than one million players in its app, from every state in the country. Among the players in the sector are also Cartola F.C., linked to the Globo media group and the Swedish leading company Betssom FC. F1 Fantasy, the official FIA league, also has a large number of active Brazilians.
In this sport, players compete against each other based on the statistical performance of real-life athletes. Participants assume the roles of coach, building a team based on their previous knowledge of the sport, scaling the players with the objective of obtaining the highest statistical result. In Brazil, most fans play fantasy football. However, baseball, basketball, hockey and cricket also have a huge number of fans in the world.
“Despite being a competition that is already well-developed and known by football lovers in the country, from a regulatory point of view, we have a lot to evolve,” he adds. According to the executive, there is still a lack of knowledge about the concept of fantasy sports, which is often confused with games of chance, prohibited by current legislation.
In fantasy, the prior understanding of the sport and the athletes is fundamental for the players' performance. Therefore, it differs from the so-called games of chance, in which the outcome depends only on luck.
According to a study carried out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), not only skill is the most determining factor for the results obtained by the participants, as the modality is more influenced by this aspect than the actual sport itself. "We defend a regulation for the sector that, without bureaucratic excesses, allows investments in Brazil, facilitating fundraising by players already operating in the market and encourages the emergence of other startups like ours," says Mateus Dantas, CEO of Rei do Pitaco.
For Rafael Marcondes, an ideal legislation would contemplate items such as the recognition of the fantasy sports game as a game of skill, the absence of bureaucracies that could make the business unfeasible or difficult, and the possibility of distributing cash prizes for virtual sports such as fantasy, poker, eSports in general and other games of skill.
"The regulation brings greater clarity to players, but it is also beneficial to practitioners of the sport, who now have greater security in relation to their rights and guarantees," explains the company's Head of Legal.
The main factors that should provide a 120% growth in the sector until 2026 are: the increase of the young population, greater interest of the female public in the segment, improvement of the digital infrastructure, lower prices for smartphones, 5G internet and the entry of new players in the market.
Source: Blog Analice Nicolau – Jornal de Brasília
