iGaming Daily

Fernando Noodt (00:01.966)
With 2024 nearing its final stretch, final regulation in Brazil becomes imminent and we are close to seeing a proper framework set for a massive market, soon to become one of the largest in the world. And so, we wave goodbye to the end of beginning, pretty much like Joe, but we say hello and welcome to iGaming Daily, I am your host for today Fernando Nott, senior journalist for SBC Noticias and I am joined once again

banned by SBC Noticias editor Lucia Gando aka The Boss. It's catch up. The Boss is like, people are already calling you The Boss. Lu, how are

Lucía (00:39.873)
Totally, yeah, I can be a boxer now, the boss.

Fernando Noodt (00:43.534)
And also, yeah No, no, you go ahead. I was asking how are you and I interrupted you. I'm very sorry

Lucía (00:45.677)
I'm good. sorry. No Good good good. Are

Fernando Noodt (00:56.482)
Yeah, I'm very good. very good and very happy to be joined also by senior journalist for SBC Noticias Brasil, Isadora Marcanti. Isa, how are you today?

Isadora (01:05.311)
I'm very good, very thank you. Hi, hello. I'm very happy to be here as well to talk about Brazil once again.

Fernando Noodt (01:11.381)
Yeah, speaking of Brazil, I'm watching as we record this the semi -final for the table tennis in the Olympics. Brazil is down to Sweden. Are you watching the Olympics?

Isadora (01:23.597)
Honestly, no. No, no, it's like when they are showing something I'm working or I'm sleeping or I'm like going to the gym so I'm not really watching it. I don't watch TV actually.

Fernando Noodt (01:24.961)
No...

Fernando Noodt (01:37.516)
What about you, Lou? Have you watched anything about the Olympics?

Lucía (01:39.556)
I just saw the El Maligno one. Yes, it was, no, on Wednesday. It was cool. The first Olympic medal for Argentina, right? In these games.

Fernando Noodt (01:44.479)
yeah.

Fernando Noodt (01:53.516)
Yeah, first Olympic medal, gold medal in BMX freestyle. That was really, really great. And I think I love watching the Olympics because it's like a very special event with all different sports and everything. So, yeah, I really like it. But let's go back to Brazil, actually to the gaming regulation in Brazil, which we will discuss in this episode. But first, this episode wouldn't be possible without our beloved sponsor, Optimo.

the number one CRM marketing solution for the iGaming market and as a special offer OptiMove are offering new clients a free first month when they buy OptiMove for more information and claim the free month go to OptiMove .com slash SBC links will also be left in the description I always wanted to do this you know like YouTube will also be left in the description the links to claim your free first month with OptiMove thank you very much

And so, Brazil has been quiet for some weeks, but all of a sudden everything blew up and the government started issuing new ordinances or portarias, like it's called in Portuguese. And two new have been approved. Why don't you take us through this first portaria? Portaria,

Isadora (03:14.161)
Well, yeah, it's been quiet a lot actually we've been talking about about that during the past few weeks and like nothing is happening. That's weird It's too quiet, but then boom to Portarias like you said and the first one

that you just mentioned is about the best practices to prevent money laundering, financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other similar crimes. So, betting and gaming operators must adopt internal control mechanisms and implement AML and FTP risk matrices for employees and bettors, which will depend on the quantity and volume of resources used. And they will also need to

identity checks when registering the users on their platforms. This includes procedures to be followed such as gathering information about the punter, verifying the punter status as a politically exposed person, PEP.

and assessing the user's economic capacity and the bets made by him or her. And for greater control, the operators will be supervised by the Financial Activities Control Council, COAFI, how we call here in Brazil, and must report any signs of money laundering to the council and must keep as well the records and documents required up to date and stored for at least five years for consultancy. And this document also

the inflammation of ESG and compliance and policies. That's like basically it's a very long law ordinance, but it's basically that's what they're saying for operators.

Fernando Noodt (04:59.117)
So it's a very important ordinance, the AML one, but it's not the only one because there's also the live casino ordinance, the most recent one, which has been passed only a few days ago. Why don't you tell us more about

Isadora (05:12.967)
Well, I think this next one is like one of the most wanted law ordinances alongside the responsible gambling ordinance that we're still waiting. But this one is about online games and live casino studios. So this document defines the technical requirements that online gaming operators and live gaming studios must consider to operate legally in Brazil and only in a virtual environment. That's very important. So the document says that online

to be authorized in the country must inform the players of the multipliers of each VRL bet and the amount to be received by the user in case of winnings. Also, the results of each round of the game must be determined by a random number generator.

R &D as is the case in other countries where the industry is already regulated so it's nothing new for for the operators who that already operate in other countries so but on the other hand live studios are described it as a physical environment that uses live video streaming technology to deliver live online online games to a remote gaming device that is integrated

into the betting system that allows the punter to participate in live games and interact with game dealers. That's what the law says. But it's important to mention here that these law ordinance excludes the skill games, fantasy sports, multiplayer games and P2P betting. So online and live games that will be made available in national territory by local and international operators must be certified by a specialized entity.

whose capacity has been recognized by the SPA, which is the Secretary of Prices and Betting in Brazil, after complying with the technical requirements established in the ordinance. So that's it.

Isadora (07:16.903)
We have the certification of these operators in live casino studios. This certificate must be valid for the entire period of the authorization and they have to be reassessed whenever there is an inclusion, alteration, or exclusion of critical components. These critical components are described in the law ordinance as a failure or a compromise that may lead to the loss

the punters rights and the government, the federal government revenues or it's the impediment or difficulties of the regulators access to an operational information. So this certificate must be sent to the betting management system that we call SIGAPI here within five days. And it is mandatory that this certificate be issued

specifically for Brazil and only by certifying entities already authorized by the secretariat here in Brazil. So if you use a third party technology such as game providers to offer online games, the operators must have a certificate of integration between these platforms. So once all of that is done, after obtaining the certificate, the betting companies will need

submit within 90 days maximum a report assessing the technical requirements required in the document. The process must be carried out annually as well, forwarding the necessary documents to the Secretariat within five business days and this period will start counting from the date of submission of the report. And the information must be available for a minimum period of five years as well, so they can constantly be checking and making sure

everything is right.

Fernando Noodt (09:18.656)
Great, you mentioned SIGAPI, that's S -I -G -A -P, right? Okay, can read, of course, you can read all about this at svcnoticias .com slash VR, where Isa and Elisa Marcanchi do all the writing and cover the most relevant information for Brazil. But this process has been very discussed, like the industry has participated a lot, has been in touch

Isadora (09:22.624)
Yep.

Fernando Noodt (09:47.014)
lawmakers and everything, how has the industry reacted to this progress,

Isadora (09:52.021)
Well, they're very happy, obviously. We were expecting the law ordinances to be done, to be published, all of them, by the end of July, and that didn't happen. since they delayed a bit on delivering them, they are delivering right now in a quite fast pace. So operators, payment providers, game providers.

including the Panthers, they are very happy with how fast the process is going. We have dates to be complied with. You need to have that date set to be able to get things going. So it's really nice to see, and the operators especially are saying that, it's really nice to see that everything is moving really fast.

everything in place, we're just waiting on one more actually law ordinance about responsible gambling that I think is the one that most of the operators are looking for. But to have these two less law ordinances in place about such important topics as online games that we had very much concern about because of all the problems that we're facing in Brazil, especially with Fortune Tiger, the PG soft slot.

But let me be clear, there's nothing wrong with this slot machine. It's just because of the bad we were seeing on social media. So to have this in place, it's very exciting and good news for everyone. The operators, especially the operators, are cheering a lot because of that.

Fernando Noodt (11:42.171)
You mentioned dates, you mentioned how happy they are with dates, with deadlines set finally for the industry ahead of us and with the final regulations finally set there's a very short deadline for operators which are working against the clock right now to be ready once the industry launches, right? How are they dealing with

Isadora (12:08.818)
Yeah, that's really crazy actually. It's a very controversial thing that is happening in Brazil because when the federal government launched the idea, let's say like that, that the operators...

who would like to operate in Brazil should manifest their interest within, I don't recall exactly the amount of days, but let's say 30 days they have to send a document requiring that, like showing interest in operating in Brazil. We had 134 operators in that list. But when we opened the SIGAPI SIG,

AP platform like for operators to register in Brazil we only have had one at the beginning Kaizen gaming was this one Kaizen gaming which owns Betano a very big platform in Brazil was the first one to

to require the authorization to operate in Brazil. after Kaizen, it took a while until other operators show interest and actually apply for a license. That's the case of Sporting Bet, which applied in the middle of July, and Caesar's Sportsbook that applied now at the end of July. So.

We had 134 companies interested, but we have only three right now registered. And we have a deadline that is set to August the 20th to actually ask for.

Isadora (13:56.315)
an authorization in Brazil to of course, it's not that after the 20th of August you cannot ask for a license after that,

It's until August the 28th that the operators can actually get a license and be able to have an answer from the federal government by the end of this year and not have to wait and not having to wait to the other to the next year in order to get a license. So it's very concerning, especially because we have a lot of state licenses as well. We have the loterge's license. We have a of our licenses and we have this problem now that loterge and the federal government are facing because

You can offer a state license and Loterge is doing okay. They can offer that and they are offering that. But they are also requesting the blocking of the sites that are not already registered in the state of Rio. But at the same time, you have until the end of the year to be registered and legal to operate. Like you have a maximum, you have a period that you can.

wait for the license without being blocked. that said, Dotege would only be able to block those sites after this period and they are requesting the blocking right now. So we have these problems and I believe that most of those companies that registered to operate

like these 134 companies are also the ones that are requesting licenses in Rio de Janeiro state and not requesting the federal license. it's...

Isadora (15:39.013)
It's weird to see what's happening in Brazil. We have only three and they're all international. We don't have one national company that operates sports betting and online games in Brazil requesting for the license. They might be getting ready for that, but we didn't see none of them yet. So this is quite concerning, I would say.

Fernando Noodt (16:04.514)
Yeah, my guess is they are all probably pretty much ready for applying for a license. And since the deadline is later this month, probably what we're going to see is a massive avalanche of operators applying for the licenses in the next few weeks. So make sure, again, make sure you subscribe to the svcnoticias .com

Brazil Newsletter. That's SBC Noticias Brasil of course. Make sure you subscribe to keep up to date with everything happening in Brazil in a very, very important month for the gaming industry there, but not everything is Brazil in Latin America. So we will discuss other countries like Argentina after this very short commercial

Okay, so commercial break and now Isa, you have an intro there I drafted for you. You host and read the intro. Yeah. Isa was like, I'll speak shortly and now she will shut up.

Isadora (16:58.093)
Okay.

Isadora (17:02.961)
Yeah, we were worried that we wouldn't have time.

Isadora (17:09.725)
Yeah, no, I just talked too much Jesus Christ

Fernando Noodt (17:14.412)
Yeah, let's just do a very brief commentary on this. It's not that important, it's going to be very brief. So whenever you're ready,

Isadora (17:28.358)
Brazil remains under the main spot. I know, wait. I can say that we are back with a gaming daily and blah blah blah. Otherwise it's just like, okay.

Fernando Noodt (17:35.596)
Yeah, whatever you want.

Isadora (17:39.845)
So we were back with iGamingDaily and now I stole Fes first position and I will take the lead on the second part. So fair and low.

Brazil remains under the main spotlight in Latin America, but Argentina continues to move on illegal operations and counter a thriving business that's harming the regulated industry. With 80 % of the total iGaming business going through unlicensed websites, local regulators are looking for ways to turn the tide and strengthen the regulated market. Cordoba seems to be the one to have taken the more drastic approach. Why is that, Lu?

Lucía (18:17.899)
What's happening is that the opposition to the government is pushing for the total prohibition of the industry. Cordoba has legalized iGaming and sports betting in 2021. And now they want that law to be taken out. While the government agrees that something has to be done

illegal gaming and also targeting, as we mentioned in previous podcasts, younger audience. So they are presenting projects to regulate the, to block these illegal sites and everything, but not to prohibit the industry. So there's a big push between both of the groups. And while we're also seeing

One of the measures that has been taken that is similar in Buenos Aires is to target the influencers and celebrities that are promoting this fair. Fer can share more about this.

Isadora (19:30.149)
Well, what

Fernando Noodt (19:30.529)
Yeah, because the most recent lawsuit, let me just take over that one, Isa, sorry. regulators are actually targeting illegal websites through lawsuits, through they are taking the judicial path and trying to block them or get them blocked, rather because like a regulator can't block themselves, they have to ask an ISP to do it for them.

Isadora (19:33.755)
Yep. No, go ahead.

Fernando Noodt (19:53.197)
So they first need to file a lawsuit and that's exactly what the regulator of Misiones has just done. It filed a lawsuit against 192 illegal websites in the province. Let's remind our audience that Argentina has not a federal regulation, each province has its own regulation and each province has to have its own regulator to oversee the industry. So right now, the most recent story about a lawsuit against illegal websites comes from Misiones where

the local regulator has filed this lawsuit against 192 websites in order to get them brought down. Like I said, you first need to file the lawsuit. It's the first step in the very complex process of getting a website blocked because you need to first investigate, then file the lawsuit, then get the ISP to block this website. And maybe even then people can find their way through and get to that website.

either way but it's not easy task to coordinate this type of measures so it's very important that regulators do this first take these first steps and file these lawsuits against illegal websites but like it just happened in Misiones you can read all about it of course in SBC Noticias make sure you subscribe to that newsletter as well and it's a path that many other provinces have taken and you will also read about it in

in in our newsletter, but you can also hear about it in the iGaming Daily podcast because we already talked about how the the province of Buenos Aires and the city of Buenos Aires have taken similar measures and filed lawsuits against illegal websites and also the Catholic Church, which has a very big influence in Argentina, issued a letter to ask the authorities to take action and prevent

illegal operations to continue thriving and all of these I have just mentioned we already discussed in episode 303 of iGaming Daily so make sure that you go check that episode out if you haven't already after of course you have finally you have and this episode has ended

Isadora (22:09.395)
Well, you just mentioned the measures that the regulators are taking and Lou mentioned about what Cordova is doing. But we have an important issue here, influencers, because they also play a key role in promoting illegal operations and regulators are also targeting them with a criminal complaint against them. Right, Lou? That's what we see in Brazil as well. We have a lot of illegal operators being promoted by influencers. So can you just talk us through

Lucía (22:39.795)
Yeah, it started in Buenos Aires first. I think it's a good measure to start showing to the audience what platforms aren't legal here and could make a real harm in the youth especially because, well, they are the ones that participate mostly in these sites. So all influencers, celebrities, athletes,

very renowned person, people here in Argentina are being targeted by authorities in case they promote sports betting sites that are not legal. They are being sued by the government. So we saw it in Buenos Aires and we're also seeing it in Cordoba now. So I think it's a path that all provinces are taking

to control this huge amount of illegal websites working in Argentina.

Isadora (23:49.237)
Well, thank you, Fair and Lou. Unfortunately, that's the end of the episode. I talked a lot during this episode. I'm sorry to the listeners out there. I'm really sorry. just got very excited about what's happening in Brazil. And it's important to know as well what's happening with our hermanos in Argentina. So thank you, Fair. Thank you, Lou. Thank you, Anaya, for always being patient and brilliant in producing this podcast. And make sure that you subscribe to both SBC Noticias and SBC Noticias Brazil.

newsletter on LinkedIn and via email as well. See you next