Leonardo Baptista, from Pay4Fun BiS will contribute to 'paving' the legalization and formalization of games

The world industry will be able to discover all the trends and news related to the national betting market, affiliates and lotteries on December 1st and 2nd in São Paulo. The first edition of the Brazilian iGaming Summit (BiS) – The iGaming Intelligence Made in Brazil – already has its schedule defined and will provide relevant content for players around the world.

The conference agenda, which will be the only one in the betting sector to be held in person in Brazil in 2021, also highlights the Brazilian iGaming Awards. The first ‘awards’ event in the segment in Brazil that will award the players who stood out in 2021.

The event will be held at Espaço Boulevard JK, International Plaza Building, located in São Paulo. The complete schedule, registration and other information can be found on the event’s official website: www.BrazilianiGamingSummit.com. Among the companies already confirmed at the meeting is Pay4Fun.

Pay4Fun CEO and Co-Founder, Leonardo Baptista, assessed the importance of the meeting this year: “Immeasurable! I’ve been in this segment for 20 years and I’ve traveled the world deeply knowing this market that is super mature in several countries and that bears fruit in multiple platforms, especially in: plural and accessible entertainment and in the economic spheres, since this sector unfolds in a gigantic ecosystem of income generation and capture from an individual, collective and governmental point of view”.

In addition, Leonardo reinforced the need to resume on-site events for the market. “We had a long period of distance from major events, due to the pandemic, and even though we participated in all of them in a remote way, we are looking forward to the “one a one”, to see so many partners and friends, here in our house it is for us a great privilege”, he stressed.

Pay4Fun CEO also pointed out that the promotion of a convention with the dimensions of BiS can positively impact the debate about games in the country. “It is also important to highlight the gigantic relevance that the event has and, mainly, the echo that it reverberates throughout the game chain here in Brazil, which, I believe, is taking large steps, finally, towards the official regulation of the sector “, he said.

Regulation process for sports betting in Brazil

For Leonardo Baptista, the regulatory process of sports betting in Brazil is facing moments of heating and stagnation. “In Brazil, the entire process of transformation and regulation is slow and bureaucratic, with games it would not be natural to be different. We had peaks of large movements and plateaus of stagnation, the press, especially the Globo conglomerate, stopped promoting this subject as it should and this lack of media “relevance” was contributing to an even greater slowdown in the process”.

He also stressed that now the increased debate on the topic in the national press is helping to accelerate these steps. “Now, however, we see the complete opposite. The press in general, and particularly the Globo conglomerate, had a major turnaround and started to see the regulation of games in a much more positive, even auspicious, perspective. Before, there was a shallow and grotesque association of the gaming universe with money laundering, as if offenders needed yet another regulated sector for scams.”

The Brazilian fintech executive added: “Beauty salons, food chain, laundries – pardon the pun – and so many other segments are so much less targeted and susceptible to this type of resource laundering that it is laughable to place the games sector as great villain and promoter of practice. Besides, there is no logic in allowing the federal lottery and curbing other types of sports practice under the same rules and collections”.

Leonardo Baptista says that games can “generate a movement of gains for everyone”

According to Baptista, this legalization of the gaming sector comes at an essential moment for the recovery of the national economy. “Gaming regulation in Brazil means not only the legal resumption of a segment that was marginalized without the slightest purpose, but especially in this sensitive economic moment in which Brazil and the world is going through, it means opportunity.”

He adds: “Through this regulation, which I really believe is very close to taking root, I see a series of doors opening with many opportunities to generate value”.

In relation to the debate about problems with gambling (ludopathy), the CEO of PayFun recalled that there are already mechanisms that curb compulsive practice. “There are those who have bought the narrative of ‘addiction’ as an impediment to the legal establishment of the sector, as if the alcohol that is freely sold throughout the territory was not a real villain in this regard. Or, that federal lottery games have any shield against addicts.”

Leonardo continued: “The compulsion is real and it spills over in many different ways and it’s not the fact of multi-sphere games that’s going to aggravate this problem. Mainly, because there are mechanisms and dynamics that stop, or at least prevent, this type of compulsive practice”.

In addition, the executive highlighted the opportunities generated from the regulation of this market. “These adverse arguments seem more like excuses for people who do not want to see a new and promising sector flourish in the country and generate a movement of gains for all and in various aspects, especially the economic one, since thousands of new jobs will be generated. an unparalleled representation in fostering the generation of resources in general”.

BiS may “contribute in a singular way” to formalize the segment

For all that, the co-founder of Pay4Fun believes that a meeting with representatives of the main groups in the sector can be decisive towards the formalization of the games. “An event like this sheds light on the relevance of the theme that will allow for an intense, focused debate, taking the right paths. I believe that BiS will contribute in a unique way to paving this final stretch towards the legalization and formalization of “lucky” games – and not games of chance – in the country”.

Leonardo Baptista also described the possibility of participating in BiS as a ‘privilege’. “Participating in this entire movement is a privilege for which I am grateful and I feel motivated, always. I have been working tirelessly for years to reach the level we are at. And I have not only worked as a businessman and investor in this segment, but mainly as a Brazilian citizen who loves his country and wants to see it exploit all its giant power”, he pointed out.

Finally, Baptista stressed that the country has enormous potential that needs to be properly explored. “Brazil is much more than carnival and beach, Brazil is a country of unexplored brilliant minds and potential investors silenced by bureaucracy and I truly believe that BiS represents, for all of us, enthusiasts of this economic powerhouse that is Brazil, one more reason to believe that we can and will accelerate towards a very promising future for everyone, indiscriminately”.