Guimarães pointed out that the webinar's objective was to stimulate debate and the dissemination of knowledge on matters in their area of expertise: “It is important to know the experiences of those who have advanced and knew how to deal with externalities in order to share them with us”.
Before handing the floor over to the panelists, the Secretary stated that the integrated resorts are strong aggregators of labor and have a high capacity for tourist attraction: "In our view, there are substantial investments, not only by the players themselves, but also by the State and strict regulation. I come from the financial sector, as I am a career employee at the Central Bank of Brazil and I always look at the issue of casinos with the same vision. It is a very important sector that needs to be well regulated.”
Guimarães revealed that he follows the proceedings of discussions on casinos at the National Congress, since “it is a demand not only from the industry, but also from society. We also understand that tourism will benefit a lot from the progress of this discussion in Brazil. There is an immense potential for collection and it has a lot to contribute to the country in terms of employment, income and development and collection,” he said.
After introducing GLI, Karen Sierra Hughes showed attendees a study by the American Gaming Association (AGA), on the casino industry in the United States and how it positively impacts other sectors and the economic and social importance of the activity: “It's an industry rich and very important for development in various industrial segments in all jurisdictions where serious regulation exists. That's why it's critical that there is a perfect balance between gaming revenue and regulation.”
"It is necessary to give operators conditions to be successful in this industry and, with this, the sector is an important generator of resources for a country, at the same time presenting regulations that are sufficiently robust so that growth is controlled and supervised,” analyzed the executive.
Karen mentioned ways that can be adopted for regulation, noting that the ideal is to analyze jurisdictions with similarities, both from a cultural and social point of view, as well as from similar legal frameworks. "In any case, any regulatory framework must be customized for a country, taking advantage of good examples and avoiding mistakes made in already regulated jurisdictions," commented Sierra Hughes, emphasizing that the objectives of a public policy on gaming must be established in order to seek regulation there.
As for the integrated resorts themselves, the VP of GLI highlighted their importance in the context of increasing employment and promoting local tourism, in addition to being an activity with a strong impact on the surrounding communities by promoting the improvement of infrastructure and the re-urbanization of areas. Topics such as consumer protection and responsible gaming, as well as processes to prevent money laundering, certification and approval of machines and software were also covered by her.
The executive summed up that "the ultimate goal of the law is to have a highly versatile, well-targeted, reliable system, with effective risk management that supports the integrity of the gaming industry and optimizes its economic and social impact on the Brazilian people."
Then spoke Alex Pariente, VP of Casinos and Hotels at international operator Hard Rock. He gave a quick introduction about the group, which was born in London in 1971 and today has more than 253 units of the brand and 36 hotels, 11 of which are under development in Brazil, and 13 casinos.
Focusing on integrated resorts, Pariente commented on the awards in the segment, the importance the group places on improving its team of employees and the dedication to responsible gaming. “We defend integrated resorts as a tourism manager, capable of generating a strong impact on the economy,” he said.
“When we talk about integrated resorts, we highlight a different level of economic scale, both from the point of view of the project itself and the influence it has in the places where they are established and in the economy,” attested the executive of the Hard Rock Group.
Among the benefits of setting up a casino in an integrated resort, he mentioned high investments, which can reach US$ 1.1 million per room, large generation of Jobs, strong economic and local development impact.
For Alex Pariente, the existence of a Master Plan for the implementation of an IR with casino is important, as well as legal security to promote investment and economic viability. “Limiting this type of enterprise where infrastructure development is needed is critical for success,” he noted.
Returning to the floor, Guimarães evaluated the presentations by Sierra Hughes and Pariente as rich, noting that “they were very enlightening as they showed the strength of the activity in places where regulations were already consolidated. The regulation has to follow the development of the sector and the regulator has to be as competent or more than the regulated, otherwise the result will not be good.”
According to Guimarães, from the regulator's side, “it is important to privilege the training of everyone involved in the activity. We are concerned about this and our design is also to privilege this side. We think about growing with this market, in a way that is sustainable. We don't want to make mistakes and that's why we can't walk too fast,” he justified.
For Guimarães, “medium and long-term opportunities cannot be missed, which is why our proposal is that regulation can accompany the growth of this market that we envision ahead.”
Several questions were presented by those who registered at the webinar, and were clearly answered by the panelists, as well as the importance of placing consolidated operators in the industry and independent bodies such as GLI. The two executives were in the same line of recognition for their knowledge and respect as Secap, leading the process of discussing the implementation of resort casinos.
Among the questions, emphasis was placed on the concern about money laundering, which cannot be tolerated in the evaluation of the panelists, who highlighted the importance of efficient controls in the financial system, as well as regulatory bodies to create policies to combat the practice. Responsible gaming was also present and the presenters reinforced the role of the operators themselves to invest in this and in clarifying the players.
The information and training of professionals, as well as monitoring systems, were identified as tools to ensure the encouragement of responsible gaming and assistance to the small portion of players who may be affected by the disorder.
Panelists exemplified the importance of integrated resorts, recalling that Las Vegas, until the 1990s, was a gaming center and that the change in concept came with the entry into operation of integrated resorts, which offer numerous activities beyond gaming itself, which currently represents only part of the revenue of the enterprises, as well as only one of the many entertainment options sought by those who travel to the city that was once called the “World Gaming Capital.”
At the end of the webinar, Gustavo Guimarães reinforced that “the topic is important and exciting for us as regulators and the exchange of experiences always reinforces the importance of regulation. We know the value of the private initiative in the entire process and in the operation, with the State only having the role of a judge in the match.”
Source: GMB
