GMB - The change in Genius Sports' structure, with your appointment as vice president Brazil and the hiring of Tiago Horta Barbosa as director of integrity, is proof of how much the company believes in and is investing in the country, isn’t it?
Guilherme Buso - I think it's exactly the same eagerness as in the betting market. Regulation comes with everything, and the work done last year, mainly on integrity, collaborating with national sports on various fronts, and the number of new products for betting houses and for sports, Brazil becomes a very relevant market for us to bring all of this. So, this appointment is just a detail. It's part of the work that has been done since my arrival at Genius Sports, and now we can increasingly have more strength in the company to make Brazil one of the powers that it really is.
Is Brazil already much more aware of integrity with everything Genius Sports did last year and everything that happened? Brazil was put in the spotlight, but at the same time, it made the country learn more about integrity, right?
Tiago Horta Barbosa - Exactly. That's the path. Brazil faced some very complicated moments, but it's not the first time, as this has happened before, but not always the response has been as strong as it is now, and Genius is part of that response. I think this new position that I am occupying is exactly with the intention of being able to advance in the issue of integrity, also taking advantage of the moment of betting regulation in Brazil, with operators coming and already having to comply with the regulated market. All of this will be very favorable for us to foster integrity in the way not only Brazil, but Latin America deserves.
Is Brazil on the right track and has it already learned more about integrity?
Tiago Horta Barbosa - I would say it is progressing, but it is still early days. When we look, especially at Europe and the United States, we see that they are already far ahead in terms of integrity. We are a bit behind, but the idea is to catch up and make Brazil and Latin America also become references in the fight for integrity and against match-fixing and corruption in sports, which are problems that hinder a lot.
In terms of products, we have one that is already well established, Bet Vision, a major highlight of the company, and the ad. Could you talk a little about these two solutions and how they have been performing in the face of Genius Sports' product offering?
Guilherme Buso - ICE, for us, is playing on our home field. We are at home here since Genius Sports is a British company. So when we are at ICE, we always bring novelties. Bet Vision was introduced last year and gave us, along with the NFL, a great partner of ours, the possibility of immersing ourselves greatly in sports betting with video streaming, and it has had excellent results. It was a season where we debuted this novelty.
And now we are introducing the ad. It is a product that attaches to our risk management and allows betting houses to have a higher margin possibility. That is, to earn more on bets. It has all the intelligence of correlation between the odds, which allows that when a bettor bets on a market, our technology correlates all the other markets, thus varying the margin well so that the betting house, the operator, has a higher profit margin and can establish better performance. We believe this is a product that will also have a significant impact on the market.
In Brazil as well, as it is regulating?
Guilherme Buso - What a good thing, isn't it? Last year we were here talking about it, and at the time, we were very close to it happening, and finally, it happened. I think it is a tremendous effort from the entire industry. From the governmental sphere, with Dr. Manssur (José Francisco Manssur, special advisor at the Ministry of Finance) there in the secretariat and all the work of the ministries, the Senate.
Anyway, everyone understood the importance of this, but mainly the industry. I think it's a collective effort. The collaboration between all industry members, betting houses, operators, service providers like ours to arrive at the best possible model for this entry was very cool. I think there are still evolutions to be made, but at least we entered 2024 with regulation, which was a dream, a desire of everyone in the market.
A challenge for you too, Tiago, leading the integrity department, to show the importance of this issue…
Tiago Horta Barbosa - I have been working in the integrity area for over 10 years and have always advocated that regulation was a necessary path for us to have integrity throughout the betting and sports market. It's a victory, as highlighted by Guilherme, with the effort of many people, with the team from the Ministry of Finance led by José Francisco Manssur. It was fantastic work. The National Congress understood that it was something relevant and that Brazil needs to collect from it.
Now, we need to fight against some problems that exist behind it, and the only way for this to happen in a serious and concrete way is through regulation, which is what we are seeing shortly. In the next few years, some adjustments will be necessary, but the market will show this with operations happening. Then we will see exactly what these adjustments will be. This beginning of 2024 is excellent for what we need in terms of Brazil, mainly.
Source: Exclusive GMB
