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Advertising assumes vital importance in promoting user safety and determining whether a betting operator is legal or illegal in Brazil. This statement was made by Hugo Baungartner, Chief Business Officer of Esportes Gaming Brasil, during a Masterclass arranged by the IAB Brasil.
Along with other executives in the industry, Baungartner spoke about the development of betting after regulation and the problems that lie ahead, especially in terms of restrictions associated with the proposed Bill 3.563/2024.
He stressed the importance of communication in a regulated environment: “Without the advertising that separates the legal from the illegal, the bettor loses the reference to identify who is licensed.”
Worries about Possible Negative Outcomes of Restrictions
As Baungartner says, advertising bans for regulated betting may bring about negative results for the market in general. Instead of decreasing gambling, people will switch to gambling on illegal platforms.
“Restrictions in the gambling market might not lead to lower levels of gambling – rather, they could simply increase unregulated gambling“, he said.
For Baungartner, strict regulation in the sector is acceptable only if it is driven by facts and aimed at protecting vulnerable categories of people.
Technical Aspects of Operations and Their Relevance
Another thing that the executive pointed out was the technical side of operations, which is important since it distinguishes legal businesses in the market.
“As a regulated sector, we need to meet high technical standards. The betting business follows international certification standards. Games undergo the same audit, as in Las Vegas, Monaco, and Macau“, Baungartner explained.
It involves such aspects as system certification (RCS), RNG verification, and RTP verification.
Responsible Gambling and the Behavior of the User
In the context of responsible gambling, Baungartner mentioned that there are technologies that allow monitoring the behavior of the user in order to help him/her play responsibly.
“We have platforms monitoring the user journey, providing alerts, pauses, and limits. It is an active mechanism of protection that is built into our activities“, he added.
Monitoring technology is becoming an integral part of a regulated market and allows identifying certain behavioral patterns among gamblers.
Possible Expansion of the Scope of Regulation
Finally, it should be noted that another issue raised by the speaker is regulating the B2B ecosystem, which is being considered now by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting.
“The initiative aims to combat illegal activity. If we want to regulate it, then it is crucial that each company, even if it works with us on an infrastructure level, must be legal, comply with regulations and have local structure“, Baungartner said.
This discussion reveals the existing tension between the strictness of regulation and its effectiveness. For representatives of the betting industry, advertising is not a simple commercial technique; it is one of the basic elements in a regulated market.
Source: BNL Data, IAB Brasil
