GMB – Pay4Fun is the Brazilian leader in the area of payment methods in the gaming and betting sector, with a reliable payment method system with pretensions of borders in Latin America. How do you see this market?
Leonardo Baptista – The market in the region is growing more and more and exploding, as well as in Brazil, especially now, on the eve of regulation. For Pay4Fun, it's breaking down barriers, just as it happened when we won our license from the Central Bank (Bacen).
Now we apply to Bacen to have our own PIX. We are currently working with three partners in this area, but by the end of the year we will have our own PIX, an important change for us as a company. And the LatAm market is our goal. By the end of the year we will be in Peru, Chile and Mexico.
During a panel at SAGSE Latam, you described the financial sector in Brazil, which has very specific characteristics. Does this provide even greater security for both operators and bettors?
That’s right. In fact, the Brazilian payments system is one of the most advanced in the world. The Central Bank is a wonderful institution and much is said about regulation in the gaming area, but we cannot fail to mention the regulation of the financial sector. The financial institutions regulated and authorized by the Central Bank transmit enormous credibility to the operator. The operator's money is protected in National Treasury investment funds.
In other words, they are with us, but under the custody of the Central Bank of Brazil. For the operator it is a tremendous guarantee and there is no risk of being locked into a bank account. And for the final customer, it is sensational because he will have his money when he requests his withdrawal. We guarantee all of this through our share capital with the Central Bank.
So we can even say that the bettor's money is invested in the Brazilian government!
That's basically it. It is mandatory, on the part of the Central Bank, that when you are a regulated payment institution, you have to keep the money in National Treasury funds. It is forbidden to apply or tamper with it. As it is under the custody of the Central Bank, the operator's and user's money is well protected.
That is, even without regulation of the gaming and betting sector, is the government already making money?
In reality, the government somehow makes money through the operations of regulated payment methods, which pay taxes and create jobs. Today, Pay4Fun, for example, has more than 100 employees. So, even without sector regulation, indirectly the government already benefits from our market. It is important to point out that we pay all taxes when issuing money abroad, since the operators are not in the country, such as the collection of IOF. So, yes or yes, the government is already in this market.
You spoke about the regulation of betting and the legalization of other verticals. Do you believe that for this year?
I believe and am very confident. I don't see any sense in going out with the regulation of sports betting and not also approving Bill 442/91. For those of us who have been in this market for a long time, we know that sports betting represents 30% to 40% of that business. There is no reason for the government to regulate one side and not regulate the other, which is even bigger. It has to open everything and I am very confident that it will come out by the end of the year. In 2024 we will have online casinos in full operation.
And in a slightly longer future also land-based casinos?
Undoubtedly. Both the online and physical casino, as well as other gaming verticals, will be open for Brazilians to have fun and for the country to gain jobs and taxes. Today it is tremendous hypocrisy not to regulate everything, because the gaming already exists.
Source: Exclusive GMB
