GLI South America celebrated its tenth year at SAGSE

"We have been participating in SAGSE for many years, but this time we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of GLI South America, which is our laboratory based in the city of La Plata, in Argentina. For the Company this is extremely important because we have been supporting the industry uninterruptedly and providing our services, regardless of the good or bad situation they are in. It was nice to be with us in the small toast we made the first day of the conference, something very simple but it was more than anything to thank all those who have supported us all these years in the laboratory of Argentina," said Karen Sierra.

What balance can you make of this edition of SAGSE for GLI?

We are extremely happy because, apart from those who are exhibiting here, who are our clients, both national in Argentina and international, the movement of visitors has been important. We have had many clients from Latin America here, operators and suppliers, who are already our clients and who are interested in expanding their portfolios, their contents. The relationships with our customers, both operators and manufacturers, has also helped that synergy that has occurred between them to improve their business opportunities. So, in addition to offering our services, it has also been nice to help them get to know each other and have more business opportunities.

How do you see the Argentine market?

We can speak from the point of view of our work, of course, because we are not operators. For us it has been very important. Little by little we have been moving forward, we have worked with several provinces, for 14 years now, but this year we have unified some of the relationships, for example, with the Lottery of the City of Buenos Aires, where they have relied on our services to support them in everything that is regulation and supervision, and we are very happy with that too. We see how the Province of Buenos Aires also moves in terms of regulation, independently of the bids, and we continue working with traditional ones, such as Córdoba.

How do you see the issue of regulation for a country like Argentina?

It is a complex issue. For countries where there is a single regulatory entity, it is even more complex because it has to do with situations of expanding the gambling offer, making sure that the risk is minimal for the player, and protecting the operator. This added to the fact that we are in a country with 24 jurisdictions and regulators, then we understand that it is not easy and that it takes time to reach a consensus. I think the important thing is that there is the possibility that in Argentina they will listen and they will be informed and understand the industry, what regulation is in other parts of the world, so that they will be formed and will have their own criteria for when the political possibility of doing so is given. So that the industry has the possibility to grow in a responsible way.

What is the next show?

Goal Peru, where we will be participating and supporting locally, not only the regulator but also the industry, in a likely future of regulated online gaming. Another show will also be G2E Las Vegas.

What's new in terms of online gaming in Peru?

In the sports betting forum that AMG did, it was very interesting because Engineer San Román explained in detail the points of the regulation that have been defined. Of course, waiting for that law to be debated and approved in Congress, but we found its draft regulation very interesting. And as we always say, Peru is a benchmark of land based game and the expectations that online game is as important as land based are very large. It is probably going to be a regulation that is taken as a reference in the rest of the countries. We hope that during the next year there will be good news about it.

What balance can GLI make this year?

Very interesting. The online game is not new to us, we have been working for two or three years on this with the different jurisdictions, but I think we are now seeing maturity; we see how our clients make decisions to enter a market and then take stock of their operation and understand that maybe there are things that can be done better, and they are evolving. There we are with them in that decision making, because the information that we can give them also serves them. So that has been a different experience, because they take us into account in that process as well.

From the regulators point of view, we are also happy because every year we see how they become more professional, and open up more to the industry. And that is very important because the contribution that operators, suppliers and us as a laboratory can have in the regulatory processes, in order for them to be successful, that synergy must exist. And the truth is that we see them more now, they go to conferences, to exhibitions, and that is very important. Because if you do not see what is happening outside, you can not see the mistakes and the successes.

Another interesting topic was the GLI 33. Because the regulators always ask us for a specific standard to make a regulation, and having published a standard for sports betting both online and in person is excellent, not only for regulators but also for suppliers. Because now we have many suppliers interested in doing certification with this standard, regardless of whether they need it or not, they consider that with that they will have better opportunities.

And well, with the security of information, something that is not new to us either, we see that the same thing happens. Beyond the fact that the regulator is required or not as part of its authorization, the recuperators no longer see it as a requirement, but as a necessity, as an investment to guarantee the protection of their operations.