In addition to presiding over CBDEL, Daniel Cossi is the current president of Wesco (World Esports Consortium), an international consortium that brings together 144 countries, including government agencies, sports management entities, national and continental, and private companies. He is also Director of Global Offices Bureau da International e-Sports Federation.
Check out the main excerpts of the interview below:
GMB - How do you evaluate the current world scenario of eSports?
Daniel Cossi - It is a promising and positive scenario in the sense of leveraging several other ecosystems that are part of this eSport initiative, which ended up becoming a sports category as a regular sport, such as basketball, volleyball etc. Worldwide, it is a very promising market, in constant growth and renewal, which cannot be stopped. There is constant heating.
How many million dollars are we talking about in a market?
We have to separate the electronic sports industry, which is the electronic game development industry and electronic sports. The electronic games industry is billionaire and supplants cinema and even traditional sport, with a large margin. Electronic sport, on the other hand, is a millionaire, with only a few billionaire peaks.
Both are millionaires that have fantastic championships spread around the world and everyone fighting to host these events…
Exactly. What we do? We distinguish the entertainment part, which needs to exist, because football itself would not be what it is without television and all the broadcasting. The eSports event are everywhere, some of them gigantic, such as those of the developers themselves, and others of operators of eSports events. But electronic sport itself is geared towards the athlete and the sports side. These are two markets.
Can Brazil already establish itself as a great power in electronic sports? What does this mean for the country?
Regarding the skill of the practitioners, I think Brazil is the first. The order is Brazil, the United States and China. I have no doubt that Brazil, in terms of ability, is the first, even because it is a country of continental dimensions, then China and third, the United States. From the market point of view, there is no way to beat China, which is the first, the United States in second and Brazil in third, due to the various commercial positions in which our country finds itself. When we speak of LatAm, we cannot even place Brazil in this group due to its dimensions, economic power and even its language.
Is the offer increasing in this regard in terms of federated championships?
Yes, and a lot. I will give CBDEL's own example. In early 2019 we were setting the stage and building a category. It is different from entering a basketball court to play, either as a sportsman on Saturdays, or as a federated athlete in a federation or in a private league, such as the American National Basketball League. You need to build everything, such as regulations, committee opinions, published articles, rules. In other words, you create an environment in which you will have a business, an attraction, and a return on investment. It's like football or basketball. It is different from having a private event with a beginning, middle and end. It is necessary to rank the athlete and the team. In this sense, as of the second half of 2019, we are engaged in the Brazilian championship, to give ladder to a South American, Pan-American, international and even the Olympic Committee. Only through CBDEL can this be achieved, as it is the only one that represents Brazil in the South American Electronic Sports Confederation, in the Pan American Electronic Sports Confederation, of the IESF, International Esports Federation and in Wesco - World E-Sports Consortium, a world consortium I currently preside over.
The eSports market is already a business and is an option in the main bookmakers operating in Brazil. How did the sector prepare for this moment and how to offer integrity of the championships and guarantee a good experience for the bettors?
It is delicate because we deal with technologies that are already open. You are in an easy environment for match making and match fixing. You have several divisions of online games. There are fantasy games, electronic sports, sport virtualization and sport simulation. So, the bet should be placed in those where there is regulation, where there is inspection of the way of getting the results and, in particular, of the competitions. So, eSport benefits from online betting and betting in general. And in the future - we have already signed an operation agreement - we are going to take electronic sports to Macau casinos.
And how will that be?
It will be an incredible event. We are also talking in Las Vegas with two casinos. Regulated events will take place inside the casinos, and they will play among themselves with their teams and with private teams, and for the final there will be held a raffle. Imagine the financial movement in such an event.
And will it be made available for betting?
Too. You cannot forbid anything. Everything that is prohibited sometimes starts to work if the environment were regulated. Then, it is regulated, and we guarantee the preservation of the citizen and the bet.
In this regard, what do you expect from the sports betting regulation in Brazil, promised for the middle of the year? Do you believe that electronic sports will be contemplated?
I think so. When you operate an electronic sport and coordinate an event, in agreement with the teams and with other peers in this business chain, you have to benefit from the bets, since the information comes from you. And it has to come in correct and safe form. This betting business chain has three apexes: the betting operation itself, the bettor and the object of the bet. So, working on this three-pronged approach, we are able to bring a mature market so that everyone benefits.
And what about the other betting games, like casinos, bingos, urban casinos, jogo do bicho. Do you believe that they will be regulated soon in Brazil?
They have to be. We cannot escape reality. If you like your country to have inputs and tourism, with that kind of attraction, if you want your nation to go forward, you can't be blind to it. I was part of the elaboration of one of the projects for casinos in Brazil, as well as a project for electronic sports including in other countries. You know that I always do lectures at the Online Gaming Summit and the Brazilian Gaming Congress, where I speak in order to promote the adequacy and permission to open casinos. And I am not limited to casinos at resorts. Casino is casino and it does not matter where it is. We have the example of the United States, where there are casinos of Indian tribes. So, Brazil needs to stop being silly and do business, not negotiations. When you look at the business with maturity, you will take big steps, as was done in China in the area of casinos.
As president of the Brazilian Confederation of Electronic Sports, what message do you leave for the bookmakers that operate with eSports?
Pay attention to the next opportunities, including those where there is a more regulated competition system, which is the case with our federative system. At Wesco alone we have 144 countries, including government agencies, sports management entities, national and continental, and private companies. So, imagine the size of that. We have a strong presence in the African and Asian continents, in the Americas we are leveraging, the Brazilian confederation and the Pan-American. So, we have the possibility to offer betting companies the environment they want. Controlled, in the sense of having security, regulated, in the sense of having supervision, and integral for the athlete, for the team and for the people, in that triple that I had mentioned.
Source: Exclusive GMB
