The first edition of Brazil Opportunities Gaming E-Sports Casino (BOGEC) took to the Frei Caneca convention center, within the scope of Expotel, a group of high-level specialists in the gaming and betting sector to present the importance of the segment to the tourist trade. to boost tourism and attract foreign visitors to Brazil.
Opening the event, Bruno Omori, from IDT-Cema, presented the main points of Bill 442/91, which legalizes gaming in Brazil and showed how the approval of casinos will unequivocally boost the tourism sector in Brazil. “Large resorts integrated with casinos, in addition to tourist casinos and bingos, will be able to attract investments of billions of dollars, which will benefit the entire Brazilian society. In addition, they will be able to generate more than 10 million direct and indirect jobs, from the design and construction phase, until the moment when the activity starts operating,” he said. According to him, more than R$ 5 billion (US$ 960m) in taxes could be collected from the public coffers.
Activity with strong economic and social impact
When announcing federal deputy Renata Abreu (Podes-SP), Omori highlighted the support received from her during the discussions and voting on Bill 442/91, approved in the Chamber and which legalizes all types of games in Brazil. “We support the proposal for identifying the benefits that the sector can offer not only to the tourism sector, but to society as a whole, which will have new entertainment options and the government will receive taxes to apply in social actions,” said the deputy.
For her, “we cannot close our eyes to the benefits that a new economic activity can generate for the whole country, both in the form of new jobs and in tax collection.”
Renata Abreu concluded by saying that tourism is one of the tools to help Brazil out of the economic crisis. “And we cannot listen to those who say that gambling addiction must be the reason for not passing the legalization of casinos. The project even directs resources to serve those who may become addicted to gaming. Only with legalization will these people be able to be served,” she said. After her presentation, Renata Abreu was awarded a diploma for her participation in BOGEC.
The Association of City Halls of Resort Cities in the State of São Paulo was also represented by its president, the mayor of Morungaba (SP) Marco Antônio de Oliveira. “Gaming is happening illegally. We have to bring them to legality and make this a source of employment and income generation, as well as promoting the development of states, municipalities and, ultimately, Brazil,” he said.
Brazil is always a focus at ICE London
Liliana Costa, Latin America manager at Clarion Events, organizer of ICE London, said that Brazil is making progress in legalizing gaming and this is a great advance, as it is one of the few countries in the world that is not yet part of this fascinating world. “Gaming is a strong economic activity that deserves to be encouraged by the jobs it generates and the taxes it collects. Brazil cannot turn a blind eye to this sector and at each edition of ICE London we are asked what is happening in Brazil and why the country has not yet regulated the sector,” she said in her remote participation.
Partnership with tourism in an unprecedented product
On behalf of Betsul, official sponsor of BOGEC, its marketing director Nelson Romanini highlighted the advances in sports betting in Brazil. For him, foreign platforms have arrived in the country "and one of the good examples is Betsul, which currently supports several football clubs and always brings news to the Brazilian market,” he commented, adding that the copany is launching, in partnership with IDT-Cema, Betsul Turismo, which will provide hotels in the Brazilian hotel chain with an affiliation tool for hotels. “Sports betting is a reality all over the world and in Brazil it has been conquering more and more users and this leads us to always seek appropriate solutions to continue offering an activity focused on protecting the player and offering more and more options,” said Romanini.
The partnership cited by Nelson Romanini was signed between Betsul and IDT-CEMA and will implement a card to be offered to all guests of partner hotels. Upon check-in, customers will receive a card that will entitle them to sports betting and the partner hotel will act as an affiliate, with the bookmaker's customer linked to their wallet for a period of one year, in this initial stage of the project. For the time being, the Accor Network has signed the partnership and three hotels under the banner will now offer sports betting to their guests.
This will add revenue to hotels and entertainment for guests. Romanini comments that more than 50% of the revenue of hotels in Las Vegas comes from gaming and in Brazil it is possible to offer the hotel chain an additional source of revenue that will guarantee the continuity of providing excellent customer service.
Gene Chayevsky, CEO of the consulting firm KLW Capital, also highlighted in his remote participation the size of the Brazilian market and how much it attracts the attention of large international operators. In his presentation, he talked about the necessary investments for the implementation of casinos in resorts, bingos and tourist casinos, emphasizing that it will be up to the investor, after the legalization of the activity in Brazil, to define their strategies. “Brazil has all the attention of the international market for its grandeur and if it knows how to handle the regulatory issue well, it will receive large sums in investments,” he said.
Accor representative Carlos Bernardo welcomed the new partnership and commented that due to the pandemic, a large part of the hotels in Brazil are idle and could be used for other activities, such as gaming. “By closing a partnership with a bookmaker, we are taking the first steps in this direction. Furthermore, we could, if the law allows, take advantage of these areas for the deployment of gaming activities,” he commented.
Eiffel Tower vs Brazil
Lawyer Luiz Felipe Maia, from Maia & Yoshiyasu, also participated remotely in the event and gave his testimony about the gaming sector in Brazil and the directions that, in his assessment, the activity should follow. “Talking about the regulation of gaming in Brazil with a major European operator, I had a mixture of shame and indignation when he told me that the Eiffel Tower receives more than 7 million tourists from abroad per year, the same number we see in Brazil. Casinos can and should be used as a tool to attract tourists and we are missing this opportunity.”
In his assessment, Bill 442/91 is not as adequate as the industry considers. For him, there is a discrepancy between the amount required for the implementation of a resort in an integrated casino compared to the installation of a bingo. “When starting a bingo operation in Brazil, through the project, investors will have up to 400 machines at their disposal. In my assessment this will drive away potential resort casinos as they will have competition from a bingo operator who will pay much less than the big investor in a resort integrated casino,” he said.
Tourism, hospitality and operators must come together
One of the most incisive interventions was by Carlos Cardama, CEO of Games Magazine Brasil. “It's no use talking about jobs and taxes anymore, since everyone knows that the gaming sector is a huge contributor to this offer. We have to reinforce with the tourism, hotel and gaming sectors that they need to work together so that a gaming law is passed in Brazil.”
For him, who presented his international experience in the gaming area to BOGEC participants, Brazil is facing a unique opportunity to offer a clean, modern activity that highly contributes to economic development, “but this will depend on the union of all of you so that Brazil approves gaming in the country. Without this union, none of the three sectors will be heard in a way that the Legislative and Executive powers perceive the great opportunity that is knocking on Brazil's door,” he said to the audience.
“We have so many places in Brazil for the installation of gaming offers and we continue to think that there are no conditions to supervise. None of that. We are extremely competent in this sense and we should take advantage of the more than 8 thousand kilometers of beaches and the many other natural riches and start exploring the activity. Today, we see countries around the world with this industry growing and the most recent example is Venezuela, which is going through a serious economic and political crisis and is resuming the operation of casinos, while Brazil wastes time and does not approve at once for all the activity,” he said.
For Cardama, Las Vegas and Macau cannot be ignored, as the world's great gaming centers, “but we have to give ourselves the chance not to miss the opportunity to generate jobs for more than 700,000 people. There are so many families that are hungry and need a decent job. The word dignity has an impact on human beings and we should think about it when discussing the approval of a regulatory framework for gaming in Brazil,” he decreed.
“Separately we are very weak, but if we come together the tourism sector with the hotel area and gaming operators, we will reach a good term and the casinos, bingos and other verticals will be approved for the benefit of the whole society,” concluded Carlos Cardama in his presentation.
Training of professionals for gaming
Other topics were addressed at BOGEC, such as the representation of workers in the gaming area, the strengthening of municipalities to achieve advances in the area of regional investments, training of professionals to work in a future regulated gaming activity and vision of the future, since few are prepared for the opening of the games in Brazil.
In this sense, José de Oliveira Jr, hotel operator in Gramado/RS with more than 40 establishments in operation, stated that “today we have 16 developments ready to receive casinos, as we have not stopped in time, focusing on the future of hotel operation with new entertainment offers to our customers,” he explained.
Source: GMB
