GMB – Tell us a little about Estrelabet's trajectory, its performance in the sports betting market and its current position among operators?
João Gerçossimo - Estrelabet is an operation that started in Brazil in 2019 through CanUBet, a street operator, a classic model here in the country. I saw that it was not very scalable. I was looking for scale because I studied digital marketing, I knew how to do this and wanted to take Estrelabet to the whole of Brazil. Today we work with a 100% online operation, closing the physical activity. We are beginners in the betting market, we are only two years old, with the ambition to be the biggest in the sector. I believe we are on the way and, for sure, I think we are already among the five largest operators in Brazil.
What is Estrelabet's position on the process of regulating sports betting in Brazil? Do you believe it will come out soon and bring a market as big as expected?
The regulatory process in Brazil is a gray cloud for everyone. Anyone who says they already know what's going to happen is lying, that's the truth. There is a lot of speculation, but it all depends on the people in the seats who can make the decisions. What Estrelabet has been doing is gathering as much information as possible, having good representatives, knowing things about the entire country and preparing for this process, which can be very expensive or inaccessible. So, we have been preparing ourselves to understand how it will work and to be able to adapt to the regulatory models in Brazil. I believe that the regulation process, as long as it is well done, will open many doors, making the operator able to generate more jobs, taxes that move the economy and I do not see it as something negative. If it is done well, it will be a great opportunity for all operators in the country.
As well as several players, Estrelabet is also a sponsor of football clubs and other competitions. What is the importance of this activity for the growth of an operator?
Today Estrelabet is the master sponsor of Botafogo, we have a partnership with Coritiba, Vila Nova and an American Football League. We see it as a necessary investment to reinforce branding, not so much for acquiring players because there are other sources of traffic that can bring customers, but positioning ourselves in the market and generating credibility, which is the most important factor that a bookmaker needs to have.
What are Estrelabet's main projects for 2022? What do you intend to invest in and what is the biggest goal?
We intend to become the biggest sports bookmaker in the country in Brazilian language, created and developed by Brazilians. We aim to enter the eSports market strong, reaching as many as possible in the segment that we believe is the largest in the country's gambling sector, and sponsoring other football clubs that are in our sights.
You mentioned the fact that the company is an operator that works with a Brazilian language. How important is this and why is this such a big difference compared to operators that come from abroad?
Because of our culture. Brazilians understand Brazil in the best possible way. When a foreign company hires a non-Brazilian country manager to be its representative in our country, it ends up taking a place in the market, but it is impossible to continue being as competitive as a national company because they do not understand communication and culture. For this reason, companies in the country, with much less financial resources, are able to operate as strongly as foreign ones and match the volume of customer traffic, Google searches and even the amount of bets.
Estrelabet was one of the brands that had a strong participation in the BIS - Brazilian iGaming Summit, not only for its stand, but with the delivery of gifts and other attractions. How do you evaluate the event considering networking, content and all the other opportunities it offered?
If I were to describe BIS in one expression it would be: Consciousness Elevator. You arrive at the event with a level of market awareness and leave with a much bigger one for having contact with operators, new platforms, affiliates, payment methods and casino providers. So, this results in better agreements for the company, which makes the investment of being present very cheap, because we closed an agreement that we probably wouldn't do because we didn't know those providers. This already pays for several participations in the event.
Source: Exclusive GMB
