During one of the sessions of the GAT Virtual Expo, several experts debated the phenomenon of esports and its growth in Latin America. Regulators in Peru, Chile and Puerto Rico have evaluated ways to ensure the integrity of the bets on these activities.
At the conference “Regulators and the future of land and online casinos”, Rodrigo Ajenjo, representing the Superintendency of Gaming Casinos of Chile, highlighted that “in Chile, what we have seen is that online casino games are probably not comparable with the movements that physical casinos have ”.
He continued: “when it comes to online games, there is a great growth not only in sports betting. Here we have eSports, eGaming, and there are bets not only for the football league, as there are also bets for championships of Fornite, FIFA Online, etc. This world grows a lot and, probably, it can overcome the physical game ”.
The consultant and expert José Miguel Chueca added that the theme of eSports is very new for the sector. “For some time, and let’s not talk about years, but months, when you entered the betting platforms, you could timidly find a (esports) league, where there were one or two games you could bet on. And, that has increased a lot ”.
Regulation of eSports in Peru
According to Chueca, “in Peru, for example, we see the Movistar league, some events in sports arenas of this type of activity that proliferate and develop”, he emphasized, remembering that technology often runs, while regulation is still in its infancy, which is creating a lag, “it is a huge challenge for regulators”.
Ajenjo also said that “the capacity we have to regulate this does not exist. We are specialists in physical casinos and some things about technology and slot machines, but in eSports you may have doubts about who is generating this result. It is a huge challenge, it is part of the things that have to be clearly in the legislation ”.
The engineer Manuel San Román, General Director of Casinos Mincetur, explained that, in the case of Peru, “the regulation initiated by the online game, will be gradually expanded to eSports. Yes, it is true that esports simply also have to be certified, it see what is the control system for security “.
San Román clarified that “we are leaving it so that it is not regulated by law, is not regulated by decree, but is regulated by ordinances, so that we have the range of possibilities always open”, he concluded.
Betting market in Puerto Rico
José Maymo Azize, executive director of the Gambling Commission of the Government of Puerto Rico, explained that at the local level “the government has a commitment to the sector, long before the Law creating the Gaming Commission and the entire structure that gathers different betting modalities ”.
He also pointed out that “a board has already been created in terms of electronic games. So, there is a commitment on the part of the government to divulge what eSports is in Puerto Rico ”, said the regulator, who explained that they are working on the subject in the same way that they evaluate the regulation of betting and fantasy sports.
“We are working with what electronic games are, because Puerto Rico intends to become a world center for this type of activity, which has become popular in recent years”, concluded the regulator.
