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A daily podcast delving into the biggest stories of the day throughout the sports betting and igaming sector.
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Like American philosopher Willard Carl Smith II, more well known as Will Smith, said Welcome to Miami everyone, we're here again with another episode of iGaming Daily, I am Fernando Nott and I will be your host for another episode of this wonderful podcast from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino where the main event in the iGaming and sports betting industry in Latin America is taking place for one last time before turning into the larger SBC Summit Americas next year. Today is a very special episode as well because I am joined for the first time by Ricardo Assis, new editor for SBC Noticias Brasil. How are you today Ricardo? Hello Fernando, nice to be participating in the podcast for the first time. I'm really excited for the event and feeling really well. Amazing and also of course business journalist for SBC Noticias Brasil, Ana Maria Menezes also making her debut. in iGamingDaily, how are you Ana? Hi Fede, very excited to be here today, very excited as well to be present at this event, it's been very fun so far, so yeah, very excited. Amazing, and so why don't you guys tell our audience a little thing about yourselves and your backgrounds? Ricardo? So I was a news editor in Bandy Sports, it's a TV network in Brazil, so I was responsible for editing text and video for... for TV shows and also to coordinate sports events like the Campanato Carioca, the Saudi Arabian League that's getting a lot of traction because of names like Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and stuff like that. This is my first experience in the iGaming industry, but I'm really experienced in journalism as a whole. Okay, and you're based in Sao Paulo, right? Based in Sao Paulo. Based in Sao Paulo. As well as is Ana, right? You're also in Sao Paulo. Yes, I'm based in Sao Paulo, and I've been working with content creation for at least more than four years now. So it's a very fun market in general. It's my first time actually as a journalist of the game industry. However, I've always been a fan in terms of sports betting. I've always been a fan of sports. So it's great to mix what I love with something that can help and not only operators, but the industry in general. So. Yeah, it's a pleasure to be working in this area right now. Amazing. And you're right into the mix with SBC Summit Latin America. They threw you in the lions' den, right? Yeah, in the hurricane. How are you feeling about your first ever industry event, Ricardo? Yeah, it's been an amazing experience. It's different than anything that I've experienced before, because these kind of things, that doesn't happen a lot in the... in a media environment like in the TV network, but it's great to meet these people in person because it's different to talk to them via email or by telephone, but being able to really talk to them, to get to know them, it's been incredible. Yeah, I mean, to be honest, there are so many new people you face to recognize, not only to recognize, but to get to know, and not only specifically about the area, but... People have so many years in the market, not only in the market, but actually working in this field when it wasn't even, for example, in Brazil, even when it wasn't a big deal as it is right now. So it's also great to get the knowledge from other people. And it doesn't only include the professional part, but also to the personal part. So sharing these experiences is very nice. We talked a lot about networking as a way of improving. your work, but it's not only that, I mean, it's in a personal level as well. So you get more knowledge, you get to know new people, you get to, for example, in my case get to know a lot of very incredible women as well, who work with this part of the market. And I know that we've already come a long way. but we still have much more to cover so it's also great to get our experience from all of these amazing people Well you mentioned amazing women, meeting amazing women in the industry and you actually went to the Global Gaming Women's Breakfast yesterday So how was that? I didn't have any breakfast there I was too busy It was just a Global Gaming Women's Meetup for you Exactly! I mean I talked to a lot of women actually and we shared some experiences They were all very kind when I said that I was new at this whole iGame industry. They were all very excited to share some experiences with me. So this also made me feel a bit more welcomed, which is also great. Being new in a new field is quite terrifying, but when you have some good company and people actually excited as well to guide you, it makes it a lot easier. So yeah, it's great. Yeah, absolutely. And what else have you been up to during the event? Okay, so I walk around a lot. I just try to get to know new companies, some companies that I maybe sometimes never heard of before, which is as well, it's again, it's a challenge because you're going to this completely new company and just understanding how they work. But making connections, like in your mind, we have a lot of thoughts going at the same time. When you meet a new company and then you start to immediately think about this other company that you talked about before and just make these connections in your brain, it creates this map of what is actually going on. It's great to talk to new companies, understand their focus, especially in Brazil right now, since it's our main market for us Brazilians working at SBC Media in Brazil. It's also great to understand how other countries are seeing my country as well. and how we can help them as well to better understand the Brazilian market. So it's great to see new perspectives from one that I'm already so biased, of course, since I'm Brazilian and I know my environment, but it's also great to see what other people are thinking as well. Amazing. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think it's very important to be in these events because you get to meet people face to face and the conversations are entirely different. those that you say like, let's keep in touch or regards like on the email side of things. So yeah, all this. And let me know if there's any concerns or questions. All those formulas you use at the end of the of email. So in person is much different. It's more friendly. A friendly and more human is more human. It's more like. We Latinos are very friendly and we like to connect with people face to face and like touch each other's backs and give us hugs and say, hey, how have you been? So long. A kiss on the cheek or two, it depends on wherever you come from. So I think it's very important to be in these events. But going back to what we've been up to, Ricardo, why don't you tell us what the event has been for you so far? Yeah, it's been great. Today I did an interview with Jack Smith, who is the senior sales director at Sportintech, and it went really well. And after that, I walked a lot, went to a lot of booths to meet some operators, to meet some providers, and to get a sense of how, as Anna said, how these people connect to each other. at home writing about it, it's all in the area of imagination and an area of you connecting the dots in an area that's not physical. And when you are in an event like that, you can understand these connections, you can understand these people, these backgrounds, their experience. So it's been really good and I'm looking forward to these next few days. Amazing. So... You said you were talking to a lot of people and you will be talking to more and more people throughout the event And of course in your role as svc noticias brasil editor one of the most important or probably the most important event for you guys and of course is one of the Most important events for the company as well is svc summit ryuk which is coming up early next year But there's a big brazilian crowd here in miami as well. So what has the main discussion point so far from what you have heard? I heard a lot of people talking about the QIC in Brazil. That's going to be really important because it's going to be obligatory for all operators. So there's been a lot of talk about this, about the necessity to have a provider in this area, the technical difficulties that this area has in Brazil because we are, Brazil is a country that betting is often associated with the class C, B and D. And these classes often doesn't have like really good cell phones. And since the QIC is necessary, they have to have like a technology that applies to a lot of phones. So this is an area that it's having a lot of discussion about because it's, it's vital they have to get it right. So the market can operate. Yeah, absolutely. And this cannot be done just like by one in one step. So this is actually something that I've heard from almost every single person that I talked to today. And I'm probably going to hear a bit more, but in terms of the chain of production, actually. So for example, in a payment company, for example, they need the operators, they need the consultants, they need to understand how to apply to a license here. And this applies, of course, to Brazilians as well, but also to foreigners. foreigners, foreign companies, actually. So this is something that I've been talking to people and they're saying this repeatedly. How can we find the right people to help us, to guide us, actually, throughout this whole process of getting to a new market? Not only a new market, but a very specific one. So the KYC process is something that is gonna be vital from the beginning. So this is the beginning where the client first enters the website. You need to retain the client there. So how are you going to do this in the most... How are you going to make the journey of the customer well-made? So how are you going to keep the customer there at the registration phase, which is the most important one? So what is it if we have this broader opportunity of very, I don't know, of so many operators, how are you going to retain this client from phase one? So not only from phase one, but to the end. So this process of keeping the customer, of not only keeping, but making a relationship. with the customer and the company is something that I've seen so far that people are very not only worried but they want to make this as smoothly as they can and which makes a lot of sense of course in terms of if you have these many companies trying to get the customer, what is the differential in your company? And this is something that is quite exciting as well because we do have many options out there and this creates a lot of space to development. to develop the market. This is exactly what I've been hearing the most. Not only that, but companies that come from outside of Brazil don't understand very well how the laws work in our country. We do have a lot of specifics in terms of the laws, what the company needs to have in order to be there, etc. As a country, of course, we're very... terms of the laws, we're very strict with some stuff, especially in the beginning now. So there's a lot of, okay, let's try this out, let's try this out, but we don't want to leave it too open. So I know this can be hard for companies coming from outside of Brazil, but yeah, I mean, we do have a lot of opportunities to enhance that and to improve it. Yeah, that's why they have to be in these events people. Exactly. That's why you need to be in SBC Summit Latin America. Yes. That's why you need to register for SBC Summit Rio next year. It's right at the end of February, so make sure you are there. So you can learn from the people that knows best this market, from the people from the market, and of course, regulators, which will also surely be there. And speaking of regulation, there has been a lot. going on in Brazil over the last few days, especially around the dispute between Lotergi and the federal government. What's up with that? OK, so on Friday, last Friday, the office of the attorney general, so PGR, reinforced the request to prohibit the operation of online betting houses licensed by Rio de Janeiro state lottery, Lotergi, how we say it. So what happens is that PGR stated to the Supreme Court that relaxation of the territorial limitation could generate a federative imbalance. Basically, in easier terms, companies can apply to operate in Rio de Janeiro, the state of Rio de Janeiro, through Loterge. However, they have to say, oh, I'm based in Rio de Janeiro. But Loterge doesn't have a geo-localization feature, too. Yeah, exactly. You can just say that you're there. If you're not, it doesn't matter. So this is something that has been going on. Actually, the office says that this could create this imbalance in Brazil throughout the national territory. And from the other side, Lotege, they say actually that this decision of stopping the geolocalization, et cetera, if they stop this, what could actually happen is the sort of imbalance between states. So there's this national and state, not exactly competition, but there's just like this. Yeah, this clash is confrontation. Yeah, exactly. So this is something that has been going on for quite some time. I don't think it's going to be solved like next week, for example, but we do still have some steps to understand what is happening. But yeah, two very strong points from each side. So what... What's going to happen right now is Minister Edson Fakim is actually he's going to analyze the request from both AGIL, so the union part and also PGRSO as well from Lotege. So yeah, that's what's happening in the sense. Well, that's certainly an interesting dispute that's going on in Brazil because it has, I bet lawyers are like... rubbing their hands with this. They are probably so excited with what's going on with the liturgy and the federal government with licenses and everything. But that's not the only thing that has been happening because even though the regulation was already approved, President Lula already signed it late last year and we are moving forward to almost leave the regulatory debate behind. or start speaking about how we can improve a fully functional market. Even though that's the scenario right now, some lawmakers have been pushing some bills to change the rules that have already been pushed, Ricardo? Yeah, that's right. In the last week, in the 24th, Deputy Clavier Verdi presented a proposal to alter the rule that has been established in 2018 to... raise the DGR tax to 20% instead of 12%. I don't think that will go through, but there's been a lot of pressure for different sides, the industry, the commerce, and the media as well. The regular media, the traditional media is pushing some more strict, more taxes and stuff like that. We may, we can have some alterations in the law in the last minute. but I don't think this will go through because they already decreased the GDR. The original proposal was from 18 and it went to 12, so it doesn't make any sense to, at this point, raise it again. Ok, so you can all read this news, these stories about the liturgy federal government clash and the lawmaker pushing a... tax increase on sbcnoticias.com slash br which is of course sbcnoticias brasil but i'm sure you all already know that i'm sure you all are already subscribed to the sbcnoticias brasil newsletter like i am because i like to keep posted about what's happening in brasil and you know we like we always say in i game in delhi we'll have to wait and see what happens in brasil you need to be subscribed to the sbcnoticias Brazil newsletter so make sure you go to the website and do that and that has been all for today in this episode of High Gaming Daily. Thank you Ana, thank you Ricardo and it was a great first episode, I'm sure the upcoming episodes will be even better and we will meet everyone tomorrow for another episode of High Gaming Daily from SBC Summit Latinoamerica, the last in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino before SBC Summit Americas next year. It's been a pleasure. and I'll see you all in the next one.