Leonardo Baptista: "We have a lot to educate, especially in the media"

During the Third Sports Integrity Summit, an event that brought together industry figures to discuss the challenges and opportunities arising with the regulation of sports betting in Brazil, Pay4Fun, CEO Leonardo Baptista commented that education is fundamental for the operation in the country, given that the sector has been criticized in the media.

"An important point is, first of all, education. Our industry is getting a lot of media attention. There are reasons for that. We are talking about 16 or 17 years of offshore operations, which had no regulations, which had no clear rules. Now the market is collapsing. Many things were done wrong and the regulation came precisely to establish clear rules," he commented in the panel. 

During the gathering, which took place on September 5 at the São Paulo Football Museum, Baptista participated in the panel "From regulation to implementation: navigating Brazil's new sports betting law", together with Regis Dudena, secretary of Prizes and Bets of the Ministry of Finance; Udo Seckelmann, lawyer of Bichara e Motta; Daniela Castro, representative of Pacto Pelo Esporte; and Rafael Marcondes, of Rei do Pitaco.

Below is the transmission of the event:

For Baptista, it is the industry's responsibility to educate people, showing how the game works, the rules behind it, the expected return, and all the mathematical mechanisms involved.

“We have a lot to educate, when I say educate it is to educate mainly in the media. We have to position ourselves and say 'Look, the people, the regulated ones, the ones that operate correctly, are different from that' [the illegal market]. There are clear rules, there is prevention of money laundering, there is prevention of underage gambling, there are clear rules for payment methods, I think education has to be strict from the start' the executive added.

On the other hand, he was optimistic about the future of the industry in the country. "I understand that the regulated market will work very well in Brazil precisely because of the payment methods issue.  Authorized means of payment, regulated, operating correctly, with strong supervision, a strong complaint channel, where the complaint will be accepted. Once investigated, close the banking channel, I want to see the irregular market work in Brazil," he concluded.