Betcris manager Gabriel Núñez del Arco spoke to the Ecuadorian press about the current situation of the biggest sponsor of the Pro League at a national level, stating that the “legal vacuum” does not allow them to have clear rules for sports betting in the country, a scenario that has grown in recent years in Ecuador.
Press: What is the difference between prediction and betting?
Gabriel Núñez: There isn’t much difference, it’s more of a cultural issue. I don’t understand why over time this word was stigmatized, since the prediction is the same thing at the end of the day. I can tell you “let’s bet this team wins”, at the end of the day it’s the fact of making a bet to put money in and get compensation in return, in addition to not being able to receive any.
Forecasting is used to try to see an event that could happen, not necessarily sporting; for example, you predict the weather, it’s like saying “let’s bet it won’t rain today in Guayaquil”; you have to understand that it is not the same and that one is not trying to disguise the other.
Press: Gambling has been banned in the country since the 2013 referendum, so isn’t there a legal question where bookmakers and betting are on the ‘tightrope’?
Gabriel Núñez: There is a discussion on the subject of the referendum, which we could continue for several hours. Betcris has been working for several years, we are about to celebrate 16 years in Ecuador. In our country, talking about betting was not something usual before, it was more of a topic in the United States.
What we have to do is a split, if there’s a chance… What kind of a chance? What kind of chance, strictly pure chance or not? For example, in a race you and I prepare, each with our own coach, and we are going to place a line to bet on each other, and by that, if I say “you beat me by luck”, I’m saying that your training it didn’t help, but you actually won because you had skill, because of the preparation, even though our event was subject to a bet, but I didn’t toss a coin to know if you won or I lost.
If someone wants to say that there are components of luck, we might think so, but I guarantee that the person who won did it because they prepared, not because of luck.
When you go to a casino and put money in, basically these terminals are pure luck. Someone might say, let’s put sports betting as a gambling activity, because there is no entity that does not differentiate between what is casual and what is skill in a betting component, and these issues are not debated in Ecuador and need to be discussed.
Press: Is there a vacuum that hasn’t been filled since the debate?
Gabriel Núñez: There never was, the Tourism Law was discarded at the time the popular consultation was introduced. The casino is an establishment, not a game, and this is also misused because it is a place where you can find a lot of games; but the casino is a place, not a game.
This law never mentioned sports betting, let alone betting of this type over the Internet. There has never been a regulation, and that’s what I’m highlighting now, because if there were a clear regulation, through non-profit institutions, online sports betting in Ecuador would be better organized, as we are physically, because Betcris is in Ecuador, while the who are in the “cloud”, their status has not yet been determined.
Press: How many employees does Betcris have in Ecuador?
Gabriel Núñez: On the payroll, Betcris is on its way to 200 employees in Ecuador.
Press: How are they divided? On the premises?
Gabriel Núñez: Betcris stopped having facilities during the pandemic. Contrary to what people think, we have almost no location, we have networks forged through different means of payment or collection across the country.
We have three representative locations, so people can feel confident that when they play, they’re playing it safe, and if tomorrow you have a problem, you can go directly to the location to have it resolved.
Press: How do these facilities work in Ecuador?
Gabriel Núñez: They work in two ways: distributors who buy credits from Betcris and resell them is one of them… They earn, invoice, issue their invoice with their VAT and are paid for the collection services. And in addition, we have our own facilities, rented by us, two in Guayaquil and one in Quito. We don’t have large locations in the country.
Press: Do you agree that the “court should be marked”?
Gabriel Núñez: We want it to be marked (regulated), for there to be transparency so that the media understand what this activity does, for it to go to the source.
Let’s look at the other companies that operate: there are at least six companies that sponsor Ecuadorian soccer teams. How much do they give back to Ecuadorian society? We need to have clear rules.