“ I think that land-based regulation will come this year, because gaming is a reality in Brazil.”
— Hugo Baungartner, CCO, Aposta Ganha
LAND-BASED POTENTIAL
The long delay between Brazil’ s National Congress first approving online betting legislation in 2018 and the final green light from the Chamber of Deputies in December 2023 led to a proliferation of betting sites as companies operated in the gray market. Player preferences have shifted towards online, so there is a question over just how profitable legal land-based gambling would be.
However, Pariente believes omnichannel provides an ideal solution to counter cannibalization and any fears over not being able to entice Brazilians out of their homes to gamble.
“ We have a lot of land-based operations in the U. S., and what we’ ve seen is that we were able to find an omnichannel solution for a guest,” Pariente says.“ We find that customers didn’ t stop coming to our land-based casinos. By offering this type of a mobile solution, we were able to keep the customers within the brand.
“ I don’ t believe one activity will have a damaging impact on the other one. I think it’ s a win-win for the company, and operators will experience that in Brazil as well.”
Even within brick-and-mortar betting, preferences have changed since bingo was banned earlier this century.
“ Brazil, originally, back in the late 1990s, always was a bingo country because, basically, we had a law for bingo, not for slots,” Baungartner explains.“ It’ s been 20 years since then; people change. The people that used to play bingo, they are now 50, 60, 70 years old. So everything changed.
“ Will bingo be successful? I still think that there is a process, and from my personal perspective, I think bingo will be successful. And bingo halls only with bingo will be nice so people can also have a different game than slots, because for Brazilians at the moment, slots are more complicated, as they don’ t understand too much.”
LAND-BASED TIMELINE
Baungartner and Pariente both believe the legalization of land-based betting in Brazil will occur this year, with the country’ s Minister of Tourism Celso Sabino previously predicting the Senate vote will happen in H1.
Once the Senate has approved the bill, it will be up to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to sign it into law, with indications that shouldn’ t be a problem.
Hard Rock will be one of those keeping a close eye on the specific details of the regulation, and Pariente feels the company is ready to make its move.
“ The brand is already prepared to take steps very quickly, provided the law that we have and the regulation we have are fair,” Pariente adds.“ Having a solid legal framework, very sound regulation and the feasibility on the project will be key, so we can deliver a project that will be in the country for decades to come.”
Pariente says any Hard Rock entry into Brazil will be conducted carefully to ensure compliance and ultimately aid Brazil with the key goals of landbased legislation, such as boosting the tourism industry and adding to the country’ s economic coffers.
“ From a company perspective, we continue to explore our possibilities in the market, to activate opportunities on the land-based side through an integrated resort,” Pariente says.“ We continue exploring different opportunities on the digital aspect.
“ But overall, we want to make sure that we do it in full compliance with all the rules and regulations of the country, and we’ re respectful of the process we’ re going through right now.”
CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM
The general industry consensus is that legal land-based gambling will indeed return to Brazil this year, thanks to the new pro-gambling Senate president and online regulation showing promising early signs in quelling fears over problem betting.
The momentum of gambling in the country is certainly growing, and though Pariente’ s“ roof before the foundations” analogy is a reminder that nothing is straightforward in Brazil, it appears the disappointment of previous failed attempts to legalize brick-and-mortar betting will be a thing of the past.
Pariente is anxious to see that process expedited, especially to avoid the problems with the gray market caused by the political delays seen on the online side.
“ All these gray area( issues) that we experienced on the digital end are something that we could probably avoid, going into this evaluation of the land-based law,” Pariente notes.“ We’ ve seen the benefits of shortening the process. On top of that, we are going to leverage all the tough discussions we already had when regulating the digital world. And so I have to believe the processes will be a lot quicker.”
Brazil could benefit significantly from an economic standpoint, with the potential for a much-needed tourism boost and enhanced job creation undeniable, especially with giants such as Hard Rock preparing to make their move.
Utilizing the lessons learned from online regulation, 2025 could indeed be the year Brazil finally welcomes a fully legalized land-based gambling industry, one that cements the country as a global betting powerhouse in both the digital and brick-and-mortar spheres.
20 Global Gaming Business APRIL 2025