The aircraft had taken off from Campo de Marte airport, in the northern part of the city, bound for Americana (SP). GMB, like the entire industry, mourns the loss of an executive who had a long career in the sector.
André Feldman was responsible for bringing one of the most important casino groups in the world, Caesars, to Brazil, and was CEO of BIG Brazil, which represents the American conglomerate in the country.
He had been managing the group's business since 2012 and, thanks to him, the company obtained its license to operate sports betting and online games, first in Rio de Janeiro and, as of the beginning of this year, with national authorization.
Feldman was also one of the pioneers in the dissemination of poker in Brazil, working directly with fans of the mental sport through the largest tournament in the world, the WSOP (World Series of Poker).
The tragedy left two survivors, the couple's daughter, a 12-year-old girl, and the pilot, who were rescued alive. The pilot called the security forces, who began the search on Friday morning (17). The aircraft signal was lost around 8:34 pm on Thursday (16).
The accident occurred in a difficult-to-access area, in the Morro do Tico-Tico region, and the aircraft was only located on Friday morning (17), around 6:15 am. The disappearance had been reported at 11:28 pm the previous night.
Feldman had been working in the gaming industry since 2002. He worked as a consultant for four international groups, with Caesars for nine years, and as an event organizer for the WSOP Brazil since 2015. Over the past decade, he has been supporting the regulation of the various variants of the game in the country from Brasília.
With a strong core business in regulatory issues, working in technology companies, André had his first contact with the gambling market in 1996, when bingo halls were opened in Brazil, but it was only in 2002 that he really began to work more effectively in this sector.
In 2010, he began his relationship with the Caesars casino chain in Las Vegas, dedicating himself entirely to this sector, and in 2015, already working at Caesars as a consultant in the regulatory area, he began to think about poker.
The businessman also started the WSOP (World Series of Poker) in 2015. When he acquired the brand license for Brazil, his first idea was to leave the theoretical field and experience in practice what it was like to be a gaming operator in Brazil, since at that time poker was not yet well recognized by the authorities and still suffered prejudice and many difficulties in regulatory issues, mainly in obtaining the 'license' and operating licenses.
"The first WSOP in Rio was an adrenaline rush. Many believed it would not be possible. I confess that sometimes even I had doubts about whether we would be able to hold the event. We made history, retold history and marked an era. For approximately 70 years, those halls built in 1927 did not receive players, dealers, tables or chips. It was historic, especially for me, who fights for the regulation of the sector. That was a dream, an honor and an achievement," said André, a pioneer in the sector.
In 2023, Feldman was one of the founders of the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), in Brasília. The organization aims to seek the effectiveness of projects in the sector and representatives of companies in the sector in Brazil before the government and Congress. André himself was the first president of the entity.
Last year, Feldman's company, BIG Brazil, obtained the license for the Caesars Sportsbook brand, a division of Caesars Entertainment, to launch sports betting operations in the country. BIG Brazil already had a partnership with Caesars through the operation in Brazil of the World Series of Poker® (WSOP®) brand, the largest poker tournament in the world.
The consortium then obtained an official license from the Ministry of Finance to operate legally in Brazil and launched the website caesarsports.com.br. The company also had a license from Loterj to operate in Rio de Janeiro in a regulated manner.
Source: GMB
