What more could you expect from someone outside the industry was the title of my last column that caused a stir at all levels of the gaming industry.

Making mistakes is human, Marco Emilio, president of Coljuegos, in a gesture of kindness, publicly acknowledged his mistake and issued a statement apologizing, which I appreciate for the sake of respect for all the actors in this industry and the good name of those of us who are part of it.

Any stumbling block occurs in life, and this is a good time for us to be heard and the wheels of Coljuegos to be put in motion so that the approval of the impounded procedures is accelerated, which since the entry into the entity of Marco Emilio It was promised by the legal department and that deadline of October 26, 2023, was left in limbo.

ACTA NON VERBA, of course I am not being pedantic, but that you have understood that the industry does not live on chance and lotteries alone, gives it a more equitable approach in proceeding and I hope that you listen to both operators and manufacturers of casino machines, that we are stranded by laziness in attention.

The past two weeks I received several messages constraining me to retract my comments, which not only restricts freedom of expression, but also demonstrates the lack of character of those who servilely believe that for the benefit of all we must endure... respect we all deserve since there are no people more or less than others; Remember we are all pushing forward in the Games of Luck and Chance industry.

Once again, the winner is respect.

Sports betting, suspended soccer players and teams, rigged championships, scandals the order of the day are the daily news lately. In Chile and other countries in the world, the sponsorship of teams by betting houses is distrusted, because it is not entirely unusual to think that some ally with each other and end up favoring a particular bet.

In Europe, especially in Spain, match-fixing is fought by small clubs that have been discovered and where one or two players have finally been personally punished, which is not a deterrent to prevent Premier League matches from being fixed. league.

For its part, the Bundesliga is doing everything in its power and knowledge to closely follow the matches, with a very restricted regulation of sports betting but which does not guarantee full transparency of the results.

But not only he soccer; A few weeks ago, tennis player Younes Rachidi was banned for life for allowing himself to be beaten at will and collecting betting dividends. Bárbara Gatica Avilés Chilean tennis player suspended 3 years; Premier League top scorer Ivan Toney is facing a ban for illegal betting… and the list goes on. In Colombia we are not the exception and Llaneros has been accused of a shameless arrangement to favor a result.

In a column published by Dr. Hernán Peláez, he commented: Thank goodness here, Coljuegos gives a license to betting houses. But I don't know if it monitors the exercise and the yields of these operations and health aid are publicly known —and should be— and education. Or does anyone know? to get out of my ignorance.

I answer: if Coljuegos does financial monitoring BUT it is time for Coljuegos to start a crusade in pursuit of Fair Play and be the guarantor of fair play and prevent soccer from being used to launder money through betting; His function, among others, is control, not just the collection of money; he has to see where he comes from, and that is the task he must take on.

The Brazilian Senate Agency reported that it will discuss draft regulation 2,234/2022 to legalize casinos and jogo do bicho (the popular national lottery) throughout the country. In the first instance, the project will be debated by the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ).

Bill (PL) 2,234/2022 was presented two years ago by the now former deputy Renato Vianna to authorize, among other modalities, the operation of casinos and bingos, horse racing and the aforementioned lottery.

The text authorizes the installation of casinos in tourist centers or integrated leisure complexes, under the limit of one casino in each state and Federal District, with the exception of São Paulo, which could have up to three casinos, and Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro .

In addition, gambling houses will also be able to operate on sea and river vessels, which will follow specific rules for this sector. On the other hand, operators must demonstrate a minimum paid-up share capital of at least 100 million reais and will be able to maintain their licenses for 30 years.

At the same time, the bingo sector would also be regulated, in person and online, allowing in each state the accreditation of one legal entity per 700 thousand inhabitants to install these halls. For bingos, licenses would be valid for 25 years, renewable for the same period. Likewise, rules would be added for horse racing, which could be operated by racecourses accredited by the Ministry of Agriculture, which could also operate, at the same time, bingo and video bingo games.

“The project seeks to transfer to state control a practice that today constitutes a minor crime,” argued Senator Irajá Abreu. And he cited statistics on the legal or illegal betting market, which demonstrate that “gambling already constitutes a relevant economic activity.”

The explosion of the Brazilian betting market and the possible opening of casinos is attracting global giants in the sector. According to a report by the newspaper O Globo, companies such as DraftKings, Hard Rock International and MGM Resorts International, as well as Caesars Entertainment, are considering entering this market.

These names are among the more than 130 companies that have expressed prior interest in a Brazilian license, as reported by the Ministry of Finance.

Unfortunate, if not infamous, was the intervention of Marco Emilio, president of Coljuegos, during the inauguration of the event, and the opening of the two assemblies of the associations, at the last GATexpo in Cartagena.

Considering that he is a person alien to the industry and especially to those located, he should demonstrate less servility towards permanent bets and respect, as in the army, the seniority of all of us. Many, if not all, of us feel offended by the derogatory comments and ignorance of the enormous effort of people like Elizabeth Maya and Evert Montero who have prioritized the implementation and good practices regarding money laundering. assets.

In the best style of the old policy - which is understandable - it has turned Coljuegos into another state institution where the “aja” is already a reference to accelerate the permits that have been held up for months, most likely to soften the (the) sorry businessman who will end up leaving the envelope under the trash can there and come pick it up on Monday...

When asked about Coljuegos, he only limits himself to reading the speech that has been passed to him from the office of his advisors and that is where the verbiage about lotteries, chances and bets comes to the surface of his lips and there is nothing else on the page From Coljuegos there are only approvals for draws, perks, new regulations, facilities, opening of markets for permanent bets and for a permit from an operator, there is no time... of course sorry, as he said at the Fair: the illegals and thugs from the locals and casinos who have earned that reputation through their own fault should go to the prosecutor's office to report because I don't know anything.

It's embarrassing when he starts talking about technology and the trip to Las Vegas - sponsored of course - and that on an important news network he said that by seeing the machines he knew how they paid, oh no! So, he dedicates himself to gambling and makes more money... or he writes a book and becomes a millionaire, and at the same time destroys all the casinos in the world because he is going to reveal the secret.

Since his arrival, Coljuegos has gone from more to less and it is not necessary to be a fortune teller to know that he came to the entity to do what he had to do regardless of the cost, in the end he is not the one who pays, it is us and they pay him for that.

What else to expect from the very corrupt, very old school.

Gambling Ins.

A gavel, a gong, a bell; the three symbols of a fresh day of trading at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Although the tool itself has changed over the years, the act of the ‘opening bell’ has been solidified across public trading houses - even though Nasdaq doesn’t have a physical trading floor, the house still has an opening bell ceremony each day. That’s how strong it is. 

However, more companies, with some high-profile examples within gaming, are pulling away from this iconic morning routine and instead favoring the quiet life of private equity.

But why are companies going private? 

There are a few reasons why some big gambling companies are going private. 

First of all, when a company goes public, there is a far greater level of administration and bureaucracy. A private company therefore has more control over its business, without having to please multiple shareholders.

Once a company goes private, the business is in the hands of a few select people; either the private equity firm or the family controlling the company. This makes it infinitely easier to make decisions and act on them.

There’s also less volatility from being on the publicly traded stock market, too. The stock market has quite infamous ups and downs, but unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past five years, you’ve probably noticed some global events that affected the economy quite severely. 

If anything, this proves that there’s no set path to success for companies; going public is no longer a symbol of ‘making it’ but should instead be analysed as a viable strategy, rather than the only strategy

One of the biggest positives of being publicly traded, however, is access to capital. It used to be one of the only ways companies could get funding for projects, which is why going public was historically seen as the end goal for many businesses in the past. 

But this isn’t the case anymore. Even as far back as 2018, IPOs brought in $50.3bn in the tech sector, while private equity firms invested $130.9bn.

Some companies never went public in the first place.

Once a company goes private, the business is in the hands of a few select people; either the private equity firm or the family controlling the company. This makes it infinitely easier to make decisions and act on them. The biggest example in gambling is bet365, which has been private since it launched in 2000, owned and operated by the Coates family. On the supplier side, Interblock is a huge firm one would assume is NYSE-listed but has remained private, in 2022 being acquired by (you guessed it, private equity) funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management.

So perhaps we’ll see a new era of company ownership going forward, where gaming companies won’t be afraid to rely on private equity, rather than face the public eye on the stock market. Is it time for more casino and sports betting companies to take a gamble on their products and boot out the shareholders and their opinions for good?