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staring at my rearview mirror and all I can see is SBC Summit Latin America 2024, which is now in the books. But we are back for another iGaming Daily episode. I'm Fernando Nott, your host for today, SBC Noticias business journalist. And today I am joined once again by Ricardo Assis, editor for SBC Noticias Brasil. Ricardo, how are you? Hey Fernando, nice to be here again and looking forward to talk more about Brazil. your second only your second episode how are you feeling? yeah i think i'm feeling a little bit more confident because the first one was uh in person so we could uh how can i put it get to know a little bit better and now it's easier to talk with you guys. Amazing we already recorded the icebreaker but for icebreakers there's no one better than a relationship manager for brazil like izadora marcanchi izadora How are you today? Hello, Fer. Hello, Ricardo. I'm really happy to be here. I was so sad that I couldn't join a podcast last week during the event. But as Anaya, our producer, says, I was too busy. And as you say, Fer, doing relationships, relationshiping with people during the event, which was great. So I'm really happy to be here again. Big shout out to our producer, Anasha McDonald, like we call it in Argentina. Anaya McDonald. Thank you very much as always, but we are here today with these lovely Brazilian people who were in talks with a lot of other lovely Brazilian people last week at SBC Summit Latin America because there's a lot, a lot, a lot going on in Brazil. Like pretty much every week since or for the last year maybe or even more, like there's been a lot going on in Brazil. But before we go down the Brazilian regulatory road. A big shout out to OptiMove, the number one CRM marketing solution for the iGaming market and sponsor of iGaming Daily. 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 and we will leave of course the links in the podcast episode description so you can find them more easily but like I said, SBC Summit Latin America is in the books. All eyes are set in the upcoming SBC Summit Rio with the Brazilian market being so important. So I can't wait for it to be February already. Isa, why don't you let us talk a bit more about SBC Summit Rio? What do you think is going to happen? When is it going to be? Tell our audience please. Well, this event is going to be huge. It's going to be only our second edition of the event because we did our first one in March this year at Windsor in Baja da Teioca in Rio. And then... the success was so huge that we had to move location and go to Hio Center, which is the biggest convention center in Latin America, which is insane. Yeah, it was so big. The event was so big that the venue snapped like you. That's what that's what you heard right there. So it snapped and now we have to move. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Vaga de Chuchá. Sorry. I just butchered the pronunciation there. But yeah, real center is going to be really exciting. Yeah, it will. Like we were expecting like 10,000 people before and then we grew a bit more the event to extend it. So now we're going to expect 15,000 people. This is crazy. It's really like it. Like you said, Fer, for the past year, now it's going to be like for the past two years, we've been talking so much about sports betting. And I'm really excited for this event. It's one of my favorite events. Like my first favorite event was SBC Summit Latin America in Miami. Um, but Rio for sure is one of my favorite ones during the event in Miami, when we were talking to people and we saw a lot of Brazilians there. It was insane to see that amount of Brazilian people in this Latino, Latin America bench. People are going crazy. Every time that we mention a lot, we mentioned Rio, we mentioned the amount of people that will be there or super stage with brilliant keynotes. People go insane. People are like, I cannot wait to go. Please confirm to every single networking event. Please confirm me for the event. I'm going to send you more names. I want to be there. I want to be part of this. So, yeah, we're all really excited and we cannot wait to see what Rio Centro will bring to us next year. We are now waiting and seeing hashtag Brazil wait and see many of the topics that will be in debate during Rio will probably come from the stories that we can today read on SBC News Brasil. which I'm sure you already subscribed to its newsletter because we've been very persistent, very insistent with it. So Senator Rodrigo Pacheco, for example, or Pacheco, like you would call him in Portuguese, he backed President Lula da Silva and said the gaming industry will be shut down in case they don't be able, they are not able to set up a responsible environment. Why don't you talk us through what he said, Ricardo? Yeah, Pacheco was present in the lead Brazil conference in London, and he said the same thing that Lula and Geraldo Alckimene, the president and vice president of Brazil, had already said that if the regulation doesn't work in the way that they hope it will, there are going to be consequences and they may shut everything down. So in the... SBC Summit Latam, we were able to talk with Ida Jabril, who is the rapporteur of the bill that is going to regulate the physical casinos in Brazil. And he was a keynote there. And I was able to talk with him about what Pacheco said. And he said that it's really important to regulate well the online gaming, but that can't affect the physical. the physical casino's bill because it's something that can generate loads of money in tourism and in taxes from the country and they hope to approve the law this year. Yeah, it's a very particular case in Brazil because it's probably the only country that has moved forward with regulation for the iGaming market before going forward with the land-based casino industry or the land-based gaming industry. since it has been forbidden for like 70 years or something. So it's really unique, a unique scenario in Brazil right now. And I think that's why it's so interesting what's going on down there. Yeah, and Pacheco even said that it was a mistake to approve the online gaming before the physical casinos. So Pacheco and Irajá are on the same page regarding this topic. We already talked about this scenario where the gaming industry gets shut down in case things don't work. We already talked with Issa here on iGaming Daily about President Lula da Silva saying if the industry doesn't work, we will shut it down. Which doesn't make any sense. Yeah, we're now getting more clarity about what he meant originally. He's talking about responsible gambling, of course, and promoting a safe environment. for the industry here, that's what we can pick up from what Pacheco said and Lula said. When Lula first said it, of course, it sounded a hell of a lot of strange. But yeah, we kind of understand what he meant now. Brazil is having a lot of trouble to block the sites that are not allowed to operate in the country because I think last week, yeah, last week the Minister of Finance sent another list of... more than a thousand sites that they have to block because they're not legal to operate in Brazil. So it's not that easy to shut down the industry. It doesn't work that way. Yeah, it won't be. We have, I don't know how many amounts of websites being launched every single day and they will remain being launched. Even if Lula decides to shut down the regulated market, the irregular market will continue to grow. and get a lot of players. So it doesn't make any sense to step back right now and do all of the things that we were discussing, I don't know, like four or five, six years ago when in 2018, when Temer legalized the sports betting in Brazil, like the online sports betting. So it doesn't make any sense. It's weird to see how the path the federal government is taking in order to regulate this industry. and to promote actually responsible gambling because they are worried about it, but they don't really know how to do it in the right way. It's just crazy. It's insane what we're seeing lately. Yeah, but the industry is working hard for promoting a safe environment, so I don't think it's eventually going to be a problem, right? But even though you were talking about unregulated market, para jugar, ten que te regra. now? Yes, that was perfect. Oh, no. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. To play, you have to, you need to have regulation. That's what the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gambling said in a recent statement. They were also, of course, at the SBC Summit, Latin America. But just a few hours ago, they released this statement, they issued this statement saying, to play, we need to have regulation. So Issa, why don't you take us through. the statement of the IVJR. Yeah, well, IVJR, as everybody knows, is like an institution that promotes responsible gambling. That's the name of the institution, actually. So they just launched a manifesto talking about how to play with transparency and integrity and respect for the rules and for the fair play, obviously. So actually, like in the, it's a very short manifesto. They just separated into like four. main pillars that they already work with to promote the responsible gambling industry in Brazil. The pillars are the ones that we're already aware of, like regulation, which is beneficial not only to the industry, but to the civil society as well. Because we've talked about so many times in this NBA Gaming Daily podcast that with the regulation, people can actually have the rights secured. They can actually know exactly which companies are trustworthy and which companies are not. If they have a problem and they need to have, I don't know, access to the customer support team of the company, they know that they will have access to this team. So that's the main front that they actually work with at IBJR. They also promote responsible advertising and marketing. for the industry, obviously, like we discussed so many times here as well, and during our events, especially in Latin America too, last week, about how the regulation will actually benefit the economy and the sports in general in Brazil. Because right now, correct me if I'm wrong, only one Serie A team in Brazil of the Brasileirão I've said this word so many times in this podcast, but I'm going to say it again, which is insane. We're seeing all the main sponsors being exchanged for sports betting sponsors, which only not boost the economy in the country, but also promotes and actually boosts the economy within the clubs and for the sports in general in Brazil. The last pillar that they talk about was responsible gambling, obviously. That's their main focus and they're very well known in Brazil for promoting that. So be responsible. Don't play when you're emotionally affected. Don't involve, obviously, gambling with alcohol drinks. I believe that this manifesto is just to reunite all of the things that IBGR does and to keep promoting. investing on a responsible gambling environment for Brazil, because that's the main topic that everybody's talking about. That's the main concern of the government. It's the main concern of the civil society. It's the main concern of the people who work in the industry as well, because the operators that want to be, that want a regulated market and that want to work legally in Brazil, want also these illegal websites and these illegal companies that... are not working towards a healthy environment to be shut down too. It's not like they're not going to disappear, like we mentioned in the first part of this podcast, but if the users can actually identify what is what and which sites are good to go and play, that will be a much better environment. That's what IBGR is trying to do with all of its work and obviously this manifesto. Yeah, absolutely. I agree. Everyone wants to remain compliant and promote a responsible environment because business, a business can thrive the most when customers are protected, of course. And that doesn't only apply to the iGaming sector. That doesn't only apply to the iGaming and sports betting industry. It also applies to the lottery business, which has just taken a very important step in Ricardo's home state of Sao Paulo, Ricardo. Yeah, last Friday, the Aposta Vencedora Consortium has won the concession from the Loteria Paulista. The auction was held at the B3 headquarters in São Paulo and the winning bid was from around 600 million reais. With that, the government of the state of São Paulo plans to raise 3.4 billion reais over the next 15 years. That's the time that the concession is valid. So... Yeah, this money is going to be invested in the healthcare sector here in Sao Paulo. Yeah, that's great news, of course, for Portuguese company, Aposta Vencedora, but also for the state of Sao Paulo, which will now have a properly operated lottery business by Aposta Vencedora. But going back to the sports betting industry, another major issue to develop a healthy market is of course, integrity, which has been the talking point probably. forever in the sports industry. But it seems to be lacking integrity among some players who allegedly participated in some match fixing schemes, some Brazilian players that have participated in this scheme. Yeah, yeah, that's a problem here in Brazil. Last week, the senator that's responsible for the CPEIDAS batches said that some investigated people have turned to players that had played for the national team of Brazil. He didn't mention the names, but we think it may be Luiz Henrique and Paquetá who are already being investigated. And also today, another big player here in Brazil, Bruno Henrique, who plays for Flamengo, one of the biggest teams here in Brazil, was targeted this Tuesday by the operation Spot Fixing. that was launched by the federal police and the public prosecutor's office of the federal district. So it's really similar to the cases of Paquetá and Luiz Henrique that in this the police thinks that these three players have gave information for relatives and friends saying that they would make a foul to receive a yellow card and they bet it on it. And in this case, the police with the aid of Ibia and Sport Raider saw that they had like a spike in the bets on a yellow card in Brunei Hickey and this game and he received the yellow card. It was a game that was played last year in November, if I'm not wrong, against Santos and he received a yellow card and later got a red card in the game as well. All the bets were made by recently created accounts and in the names of relatives and friends of Budeniki. So we have to see how this unrolls, but it does not look good. Yeah, we were talking before the podcast that it seems like they apparently were like helping their relatives or something like that. But of course that's for the justice system to decide and to investigate. But yeah, it reminds me of the case of Sandro Tonali, of course, the Italian player, but it was so different in his case. He actually got the suspension and is now playing again. But Paqueta and Luis Henrique are actually facing a lifetime ban from football worldwide. So that's probably because the Sandro Tonali thing was only betting in favor of his own team. So he violated the FA rules. But the FA wants to send a message. Yeah. It can continue this way. We cannot see only players who play for low categories being banned for life and big names if they actually did it. Because we don't know yet. But if they actually did it, they cannot just get a suspension and I don't know, a fine, and that's it. In order to have an integrity industry and a functioning tougher penalties and the rules must be followed by everyone involved. Must be equal for all kinds of players. For everyone, yeah. And I think it's so serious with Paquetá and with Enrique because it's actually negative things for their team. While in Sandro Tonali's case, Sandro Tonali is always trying to push his team forward and influence the result. in a positive way, right? Winning, that without the bets. And so he was betting in his own favor that the actual performance factor would remain the same. He would just push forward for his team to win like you would expect in a football team or a football player. Exactly, not jeopardize your own football club or the football environment in any way. Yeah, and it was a similar case with Ivan Tony that now plays for Saudi Arabia. He was He got a suspension as well, but it was like for violating players can't bet as a whole. So he was betting, he was betting on his team in other teams, but he wasn't trying to manipulate the game. Like you said, it's very different cases. Of course you can read all about this in SBC Noticias Brasil. That's svcnoticias.com slash VR and make sure you subscribe to the newsletter so you get that on your email every week. And of course, this is not exclusive to Brazil, the integrity issue, because there's some cases under investigation in Argentina, specifically in the province of Córdoba, where a Federal A tournament team called Sportivo y Biblioteca Atenas is actually being investigated after losing 3-0 against Juventud Unida de San Luis. His president, Federico Felipe, is under investigation. Actually, we will leave the link to that story below. And today we reported a story, this week we reported a story in Mexico as well for the Alebrijes de Oaxaca, which are also under investigation by the Disciplinary Commission of the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol, the Mexican Football Federation. So they are under investigation after being lost in the second division of the Mexican Of course, this is a matter of of a lot of importance for the industry to sustain integrity and to be a healthy and prosper industry for all actors that are involved. But that has been all for today. Thank you, Isadora. Thank you, Ricardo. Thank you to our lovely audience out there. And of course, thank you, Anaya MacDonald, our lovely producer for iGaming Daily. And to all of you out there, we will see you in the next one.