Cultivating a Sustainable Sports Wagering Marketplace in Brazil
## Cultivating a Sustainable Sports Wagering Marketplace in Brazil
Brazil boasts a massive soccer fan base, making its market a potential frontrunner for one of the largest worldwide. Francisco Rodano, Playtech’s Chief Policy Officer, highlights the vital role operators play in ensuring a secure and sustainable launch, outlining how they navigate the intricate regulatory landscape to iGB.
After four years of endeavor, the implementation and opening of the Brazilian sports wagering market are anticipated to materialize later this year – sustainability being of paramount importance.
Francisco Rodano, Playtech’s Chief Policy Officer, believes the market holds immense potential. “The substantial size of the unregulated gambling market, combined with Brazilians’ fervor for sports, suggests it could become one of the largest regulated markets globally,” he asserts.
At Playtech, we’re prepared to contribute, whether it’s forming strategic partnerships or joint ventures with prominent local operators, as we’ve done in Mexico with Caliente and in Colombia with Wplay, or providing our offerings and services to local and international licensees of any scale.
**Ethical Gaming**
Nevertheless, new prospects also bring new dangers, and Rodano believes it’s essential to incorporate sustainability into Brazilian sports betting from the beginning.
He believes that the market opening will drive operators to prioritize how to safeguard customers, aligning with broader industry trends. Sustainable betting focuses on maintaining a balance between finances and entertainment, preventing continued play after financial losses.
Operators now need to not only recognize potential risks but also take action by setting limits to avoid harming players’ mental and financial well-being.
“Even if only a small percentage of players might be negatively impacted by gambling, identifying them at the earliest stage is critical and a moral duty,” he explained.
“There are many ways to engage with at-risk players, from general emails to personal interviews conducted by ethical gaming experts or even psychologists. All operators should be able to activate the most appropriate intervention measures based on each player’s risk level. At Playtech, we’ve developed a first-level interaction tool that has proven to be very valuable.”
In our experiments, AI-driven personalized interventions were twenty-one times more effective at promoting responsible gaming practices, such as establishing deposit limits, compared to conventional generic email responsible gambling initiatives.
Artificial intelligence technology is becoming increasingly widespread in the gambling sector. In the past, gambling operators have relied on straightforward scorecards based on basic thresholds, such as deposit or wager amounts and time spent participating. This uniform approach has a fundamental flaw: it tends to treat all participants equally, while at Playtech, they acknowledge that “human behavior is far more intricate and varied.”
“Online gambling provides us with access to a vast amount of personal information that was previously inaccessible,” Rodano states. “And it’s not just gambling data, which is already very detailed. Considering how ‘connected’ we are, there are numerous other sources. I am aware that VIP managers examine players’ activity on social media platforms, for instance, if they suspect something is occurring.”
“Machine learning presents a valuable opportunity to attempt to ‘decipher’ people’s actions. For instance, in 2019, an AI poker bot developed by Facebook and Carnegie Mellon University defeated some of the world’s top professional players. Utilizing AI, the software developed an understanding of human behavior that extended beyond the players.”
Playtech is adopting this technology through its safer gambling analytics platform, BetBuddy.
This program endeavors to pinpoint players at risk by scrutinizing their actions. It leverages machine learning algorithms that process data on each player, generating up to 70 behavioral indicators to align them with recognized players who have experienced harm.
These algorithms are coupled with “expert rules” to further refine the data-driven method, and these algorithms are entirely transparent. Rodano elucidated, “These risk indicator lists empower operators to tailor interventions, which is more effective than traditional generic interactions.”
“Astonishingly, our research reveals that 76% of Brazilians endorse betting companies employing AI to identify potential at-risk players.”
Potential Hazards
Playtech recently conducted a tailored consumer survey in four Latin American nations, including Brazil, to comprehend key issues related to accountable gambling in each region. In Brazil, 56% of respondents indicated they participated in gambling, despite the absence of regulation. A majority of them advocated for more robust local regulations and more information about responsible and sustainable gambling tools.
The survey discovered that Brazilians are most apprehensive about losing all their funds due to addiction while gambling.
In addition to these, there are also dangers of deception, game manipulation, bonus payment mistakes, privacy violations, and the increasing risk of funding criminal activities.
Rodano indicated that since the legal market is not yet open, numerous local participants interact with betting firms from overseas and tax-free areas where no consumer protection measures are in place.
Brazil’s ruling has brought sports betting under control, but online gambling remains uncontrolled. Rodano emphasized that other forms of gambling need to follow suit.
Thus, he highlighted that the regulatory framework needs to include casino games and popular forms of sports betting sought by consumers, otherwise there is little motivation to move to the legal side of the country.
“This is a possible risk factor, as Law 846/2018 only regulates sports betting, while casino games (which account for almost half of global gambling income) will remain unlawful in the near future, leaving Brazilian players with no legal alternative to their offshore versions.”
Collaborating, not competing
“We believe that a gambling regulatory framework can only function when all three parties – the government, players, and the gambling industry – achieve their respective objectives,” Rodano said.
He added that suppliers play a neutral role.
We collaborate with numerous consumer-facing businesses, and although there’s intense rivalry among them, this doesn’t hinder our capacity to dedicate time and resources to safer gambling research and development.
Our duty is essentially two-pronged. On one side, we aim to create safer, more sustainable gambling solutions that are grounded in evidence and extensively tested, with a focus on the well-being of individual players, not broad assumptions about the entire player base, as we are all unique.
On the other side, we need to inform policymakers and industry colleagues about the potential of this approach.
He stated that increased cooperation throughout the industry is essential for this work to be successful. Rodano recognized that for the market to thrive, operators need to look beyond competition—collaboration across the entire gambling sector is vital for success.
“Numerous machine learning programs and trials are being conducted by various operators, but frequently these findings aren’t shared with others,” he explained. “Safeguarding everyone’s health and enhancing well-being should be a collective, industry-wide endeavor, not a means to gain a potential competitive edge.
“By sharing our triumphs, and especially our setbacks, we can learn together and assist the gambling industry in achieving sustainable success over the long term.”
Playtech envisions a promising outlook for Brazil’s gaming sector, but they emphasize the paramount importance of responsible gaming. They’ve been engaging with regulatory bodies globally, and many are now mandating that businesses implement behavioral analysis and customized interventions to safeguard players. This practice is already being implemented in nations such as the Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany, and Sweden.
Playtech is prepared to collaborate with Brazilian authorities to ensure the country’s gambling industry is secure, enduring, and prosperous for the future.
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