iGaming Daily

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Live from Rio de Janeiro, this is a new episode of iGaming Daily. Welcome everyone, I'm Fernando Nott, Senior Business Journalist for SBC Noticias and your host for today's episode of iGaming Daily, a very special episode because we are live from Rio de Janeiro, like I said, in SBC Summit Rio 2025 and it's been a really great event so far and the whole industry is here of course because

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I won't say newly regulated market, but the new model of its regulation, let's say, new licenses have started, have gone live since January 1st. So everything is new here and there's a lot to talk about. But to talk about Brazil, there's no one better than SBC Noticias Brasil editor Ricardo Assis. Ricardo, how are you today? Hello, Fer.

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Very happy to be here. It's been a very productive event so far. The first day was filled with discussions about regulation, discussions about lotteries. It has been really, really nice. Yeah, for sure. I think it's been great. But let's not jump ahead of ourselves and welcome Elisa Marcanti, business journalist for SBC News in Brazil. Elisa, it's been a long time. Welcome back to iGaming Daily. How are you? Hi Fer, thank you. Yes, it's been a long time since I joined the podcast.

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but I'm really great actually. I'm a bit tired, but it's been a very good event so far. Yeah, for sure it's been a tiring experience, but it's been also great to meet everyone here at SBC Summit Rio in Rio Centro, here near Barra de Tijuca. Sorry if I butchered that pronunciation, but I'm in English mode right now, not Portuguese, but who is really in Portuguese mode and in...

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Legend Mode is Ana Maria Meneses, business journalist for SBC Noticias Brazil. Ana, how are you today? How are you finding the event? Hi, Fer. Always great to be here at a podcast. The event has been great, actually. And one of the things that I really like the most about all of SBC events is the fact that I can actually join my peers. Since we see people from all over the place, especially working for SBC, we cover news from all over the world so we can see each other here.

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share experiences as well and also meeting other Brazilian peers who work in the industry. So it has been great to just understand how people have been feeling after the new regulated laws and all the new regulated market. How people have been feeling and all of the experiences they have been sharing as well. How the companies have been dealing with all that is actually new so yeah it has been great in this sense.

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Yeah, for sure. But also joining us later in this episode is Ted Orme Clay live from the SBC Summit Rio floor. So stay tuned after to hear Ted Orme Clay from the Expo floor, which is for sure buzzing. And the rhythm of samba, for sure, we had a lot of that over the last few days. Of course, it's nearly carnival here. So it only makes sense. Also, big shout out to Anaya McDonald.

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producer of this episode who's doing an Erkeulian job to produce this one remotely

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We'll send our hugs and love to Anaya McDonnell, but also our love goes to OptiMove, the number one CRE marketing solution for the iGaming market and sponsor of iGaming Daily. So thank you OptiMove and let's get right to the content of this conference, of this event in general. What have you guys been up to, Ricardo? Thanks Fer, it has been a very busy first day. We had like the keynote from the beto that was really nice talking about his career.

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football, his journey to the title of the FIFA World Cup in 1994. It was really touching, it was really nice. And after that I was able to talk with Catalina Iumi, she's the secretary of betting. It was a very nice interview and this will probably go live this week already and we talked a lot about regulation, about the things that the secretariat looks forward to tackle in the future, how the secretariat has been seeing the regulated market, the challenge.

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the judicialization of the process that has been happening in Brazil because some companies that haven't been approved has conquered license via judicial system so we talked about that as well it was very nice after that I went to a panel regarding the lottery status in Brazil because we have the federal lotteries state lotteries and it's not allowed in Brazil but is

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to discussion the creation of municipal lotteries, so it was a very nice panel with different points of view and it was very good. Also we had a panel regarding the cost of operating in Brazil because this is a highly strict market with big cost to entry and big taxes and how this affects the market as a whole, it was very nice as well, so lots of good stuff happening and today

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I'll be able to talk with even more people, talk to more operators to understand the pain points, the things that are working well because since this is the very early days of the market there are some things that still need to be fixed There are things that already work well So we are here in this event and we are able to talk face-to-face to understand what's been working, what's not been working and to understand more

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operators are going through in these early days? Yeah, I think you nailed it right there when you mentioned face-to-face talks because there's nothing like explaining to someone the problems you're having, the challenges you're facing while operating your business. And meeting with someone that can provide you the answers to your questions, I think is really priceless and that's one of the best things of coming to an SBC event because everyone is here.

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get to talk to the people they need to talk because like I said everyone is here from regulators to operators, suppliers, affiliates, you name it, you have it here so I think that's a very important aspect of the event but what about you Elisa, what have you been up to this week? So yesterday I had an interview with Bebeto, it was really good, he's a very nice person, we talked about the

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He was very nice, I even took a picture with him. Also I had an interview with Monara from Segurobet and we talked about the brand, we talked about how to be aligned with the new law of betting. She's very nice as well, I really liked her. And I got two more interviews yesterday for today, so I'm really excited. And I've met a lot of great people. I tried to watch more panels.

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a very busy day so I couldn't and yeah that's it it's like the venue it's amazing it's everything so big I feel like in a in a seat of giants you know and I heard like some people saying this venue is much better than the last one because we have space to walk we can see the products too we can meet people because last year was so crowded and we couldn't walk we we didn't have a lot of

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people like this this new venue and I think it was good to share this this feedback

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Yeah, that's it. So I'm excited for today, the last day. A bit sad, but also thankful for the event, for the huge success we were again. And yeah, that's it. Yeah, first of all, I really agree with Elisa because the venue is huge. I was walking and I saw so many bright colors and I was walking through the stands and I was able to just play around as well. So we got like small amounts that we could spend on like just playing.

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around and meeting all these new operators. So it's a great opportunity as well for you to feel as the players would feel playing as a customer. So it's a great experience in general for you as an operator, as an affiliate and as a player.

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So, and for us as journalists, since sometimes we're always on the other side, just writing is a great way to feel in any part of the experience as a customer or as someone trying to sell a product. So yeah, this is a great event in all of the chain customer success part as a salesperson or as a customer. And for me, these past few days have been of crazy work. I have been doing so many interviews, especially with international women.

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International Women's Day coming. I have been doing interviews with a lot of women that have been present here at Rio. And this is something that's so great because I have been talking to lots of women, so many interests in talking to SBC about their roles, about what they have been doing to the industry, about how their work has been shaping the industry as well. And it's basically their earths of wisdom and how their work

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what they have accomplished today, what they have achieved and how they have achieved that. So for me as a young Brazilian person, it's great to hear other Brazilians talk to me and just really share their experience and inspire me as well on how to be more, if I can say that, strong-minded and how to take chances and opportunities and just really take risks as well.

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It not only has been very fun, it has been powerful as well. So it's been great. Yeah, absolutely. A lot of important discussions going on. And I think these types of groups, like Amig, for example, with women, are very important to get people together and discussing things face to face, like we were mentioning before. And when people get in groups and discuss the problems they have, they will discover that.

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Most of the time they share the same challenges and that way they can more easily find their solutions to those problems But most of those problems and challenges have been on discussion on debate this This whole week in SBC Summit Rio I have found that there's been a lot of talk of course about regulation because there's a lot still there's a lot going on because government still discussing taxation and different types of things we had senator

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here talking also with undersecretary as Ricardo was mentioning. By the way, be sure you subscribe to SBC Noticias Brazil and SBC Noticias newsletters to read all about the things we are talking about right now. But like I was saying, a lot of regulation talk with Senator Ilajá, with representatives of the prices and betting secretariat. I think it's very important to hear all these people.

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I think the educational aspect of SBC, some trio, has been key to this. I've also heard a lot of talk around marketing. That's like my impression. Lots of people specialize in marketing and people that are looking for marketing specialists to actually see how they can better promote their businesses in a very crowded market that like the Brazilian market because right now there's a lot of companies that are

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under the new regulation and companies of course has spent a lot of money on the licensing fee and they are looking to promote their business but they maybe some like the biggest ones of course they do have the funds to do

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bigger marketing campaigns, but I think that the smaller ones, the medium sized companies are looking for how to better promote their business. And I think marketing has been a key aspect and a key talking point here at the SBC Summit Rio with influencers. We had the Influencers Academy. I think that's one of the main takeaways I have from SBC Summit Rio 2025.

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What about you Ricardo? What do you think about the discussions that have been going around in SBC Summit Rio? Where do they go? Yeah, I agree with you. I think marketing is a really big point of discussion here in the SBC Summit Rio, alongside as we talked about regulation, because there are some points that are still needed to be looked at, because we haven't had any decisions. But last

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in the Supreme Court regarding the lottery of the State of the Rio de Janeiro case and the E-Union. I will resume because it's a long story, it's difficult to resume it, but basically the lottery of the State of the Rio de Janeiro has been operating nationally in the last year because they thought this is something that it was their understanding of the law, that this

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disagreed with them and went to the Supreme Court and after a few months of discussion the Supreme Court has agreed that the lotteries cannot act this way so this is being something that is being discussed here as well because this is something fairly new this is something that affects lots of companies and this is aspect that as I've been seeing people talking it has been discussed in the panel that was talking early that was regarding the federal state

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and municipal lotteries that had like Plinio Lembro Jorge, Filipe Rodrigues Alves, Amilto Nobili, Valdez Marques and Luis Felipe Maia and it was a very productive discussion with different points of view regarding what's public interest, if lotteries should be viewed as public service or as a product so it has a lot of discussion that are still going to be done in the last in the next

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one to point out one major topic because I think this is something macro. We have like lots of sessions in different aspects so I've been looking more into the regulation because this is something that I'm looking forward to understand a little bit more, to understand more of the pain points of the operators. So for me it has been my focus in this event but I've

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It has something for everyone, and the SBC is something real. Yeah, Ricardo, I agree with you. And also, I think it's a very important topic to talk about digital influencers. We have a few of them here at the event. And we had a panel yesterday. I tried to watch, I went there to watch it, but I couldn't, I had to leave.

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brand and before the event I had an interview with Anastasia if I'm not mistaking her name pronunciation she was also a speaker in this panel I want to watch and during the interview she said the people you choose is gonna represent your brand so if you choose someone who is not aligned with the the

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a very important topic and we don't talk a lot of this, we don't have a lot of people talking about this. I think it's not new but newish subject and it's something like we need to to be careful because it can like destroy a brand even if it's a established brand already in the market. So yeah I think this was

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participate more, but I will watch online for sure. And if you want to check my interview with her, you can just go to SBC News Brazil, of course.

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Yeah, and regarding ambassadors, the law ordinance, I think it's the 1231, that is regarding the responsible gambling, has decided that the companies, the operators, are responsible for what the affiliates and ambassadors say. So this is something that they really should be careful, because they can be penalized, they can be suspended, and they can even lose license if they do things the wrong way.

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attention in this new regulated market? Yeah, definitely. I was talking to a specialist in marketing and influencer marketing and he was saying that the industry needs to be proactive and the industry is actually being proactive because they are developing courses and guidelines to actually better conduct their marketing campaigns, especially with digital influencers. So yeah, this is definitely an interesting topic to follow. And of course you can follow it on SBC Noticias.

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Brazil and SBC Noticias. But Ana, I'm going to go with a double question for you. I want to hear about the topics you've been discussing or you've been hearing about during the event, but also to wrap this, our participation, because Teller and Clay is coming from the expo floor. What do you think comes next for Brazil in the next months? What do you think it comes next after being in SBC Summit Rio and hearing all you have heard so far?

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One of the great things about attending to these events, and especially relating to the question that my peer just answered, is that it's a great thermometer for the next couple of months. So what's being discussed here is something that we can take advantage of for the next couple of months. So what's coming? It's actually, in my honest opinion, it's marketing related. So how we can take a better approach towards influencers.

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actually change how the public perceives influencers sharing operators. How can we change the public opinion of betting and this is something that is I know that is a worldwide tendency of just trying to help people see it as an entertainment as it actually is. So this is something that we look forward to seeing in the future how the market is actually going to shape help shape

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marketing related as well but methods of payment is something that we are really looking forward to in the future because methods of payment is not only related to itself as like open finance or something related but it's also related to the KYC so how can we relate how the customer can access the platform and in a very easy and fast way but also pay for for his games in a very easy

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safe and fast way as well. So everything and the keyword here is the keyword sorry is fast and easy and so the customer always needs it to be fast and easy and safe of course always safe. So these are keywords that we need to look forward in the future and these events especially SPC events these are these are the keywords that we focus all the time so the customer is always in our best

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And we need you to also have the customer always in your mind.

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All of our panels, all of our discussions are always customer success related. And this is what I expect for the future. So how marketing, how methods of payment and how as well KYC can help the industry, the Brazilian industry as well to help the customer. How are the brands going to adapt themselves to the customer as well?

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which ones are unfortunately not gonna make it because that's a normal process. Which companies are gonna keep going, which companies are not because we both know, we all know actually, this is a normal process in any market and what is the, what are the, what mechanisms are they using to keep going and keep thriving. So I think this is something that I'm really looking forward to seeing in the future and just keep on the lookout for and yeah I think

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really excited for it. Yeah, I think you should again subscribe to SBC Noticias Brazil newsletter and SBC Noticias newsletters so you can follow all these topics that will continue to bring new information and new things with new challenges and new opportunities for the gaming industry in Brazil, in Latin America and of course in the rest of the world. But that has been all from us

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guys, the SBC Notices Brazil team. Thank you very much, Anaya McDonald for producing this episode. But like I said, hold your horses because we have Ted Orme Clay coming from the SBC Summit Rio Expo floor. Hi, this is Ted Orme Clay, editor of Payment Expert and Insider Sport. I'm calling in live from the SBC Summit Rio in beautiful Rio de Janeiro to give you a bit of a breakdown of the first day of the event.

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Yeah, as anticipated, it's been a great event. I'll give full credit and kudos to our events and conference team, our colleagues over on those teams.

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for putting together another pretty solid show. There's been a really packed lineup of speakers. I started off the day attending one of the flagship ones we've had with a Berbeto, I hope I've pronounced his name right, the Brazilian football legend who talked about his career and his transition from football to a political one, which was quite an interesting talk. That was followed up with a very in-depth regulatory discussion where we had representatives

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Ministry of Finance, the SPA which is the Brazilian vetting regulator for this new market. Obviously the summit has, the timing has come just a month after the market launch. There's a lot of conversations around the early stages and how it's going to develop. That panel also had a senator on there as well who shared some of his views on the industry and then I spent the rest of the day on the payment expert summit stage. There was a lot of interesting discussions on that. Obviously

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The PIX was a big one. There's been a lot of praise for how innovative it is and what a positive impact it's having on the market. But there's also been a lot of anticipation for cryptocurrency. It seems that a lot of people here are quite keen to see more regulation around that and perhaps even the potential for crypto betting to eventually become a legal thing in Brazil, which would also, I think, set the market out as being a very unique...

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Yeah, a very unique practice, I think, from the crypto and technological standpoint as compared to other gaming sectors. So yeah, overall it's been a fantastic event, some great speakers, some great topics covered and hopefully I'll be able to get back to you with another update, perhaps next week.