Fecoljuegos President talks about the tasks and goals of the entity towards the health emergency in Colombia due to Covid-19

Last year there was a big growth of online gaming. What are your expectations for 2020?

Since its regulation with agreement 04 of 2016, the operation of internet games has had a notable growth in the country, becoming its regulation, being a pioneer in Latin America, a model for the region and the world. Currently there are 17 authorized platforms in Colombia that have two million eight hundred thousand active accounts, sales of 5.4 billion pesos (USD 1,380), of which about 90% return the player in prizes, a percentage higher than that establishes the 83% norm, but most importantly, the online operation is transferring to the health of Colombians for exploitation rights more than 68 billion pesos a year (USD 17 million).

Unfortunately, with the difficult situation that the world is going through at the moment and the measures that have been taken to neutralize the spread of COVID -19, the expectations that were had in the face of the movement that the bets were going to have with world events as significant as the Copa América, the qualifying rounds for the World Cup and the soccer leagues have vanished. The reality right now is that companies are reviewing how to cope with the economic impact that the health emergency is generating to cover the costs of the operation and thus maintain the economic flow while the crisis is overcome.

Given the concerns and needs of the operators, Fecoljuegos on its behalf has been an interlocutor with the National Government and mainly with Coljuegos to request support and economic measures that allow dealers to have relief on some specific issues that give them the possibility of bearing costs. fixed and keep their collaborators linked while having sufficient cash flow.

For online operation, specific requests have been as follows:

⦁ The feasibility of authorizing the operation of the virtual games approved in agreement 04 of 2019 and the inclusion of the live casino. Since, in the face of this difficult situation, the operation of these games becomes more relevant.
⦁ The extension of the validity of the concession contracts for the same term that the social and health emergency lasts.
⦁ Suspend the fulfillment of the obligation of liquidation, declaration and payment of the exploitation rights and administration expenses of the internet operated gaming operators that are caused during the quarantine period, so that it becomes effective once the measures are lifted by the Government and for up to three more months.
Proveedores Suppliers have been asked to suspend, freeze and / or postpone collections and / or credits, as the case may be, during the health emergency decreed by the National Government.

What are your expectations towards live gaming for the current year?

Fecoljuegos has been behind this request for some time now; on different occasions we have asked Coljuegos for the need and importance of expanding the game offer by including the Live Casino or Live Dealer portfolio, since, in addition to invigorating This type of operation will allow competition against illegality and generate more resources for health, the State and for entrepreneurs.

Now more than ever we are insisting Coljuegos to review the possibility of including Live Casino as soon as possible in the game offer as this would mitigate the impact of the non-entry of money from sports betting during the emergency due to the COVID-19, since bets on sports events represent 90% of movements on platforms and national and international sports competitions are canceled.

Which are the main tasks for Fecoljuegos during 2020?

For now and in the face of the health emergency that the National Government has declared, our task as a union will be to represent the needs of the concessionaires before the different entities with which the industry must meet certain obligations, this in order for them to receive support and alternatives while that the operation is completely normalized, between all of us we must articulate and commit ourselves to allow the industry to continue growing, but above all to manage to overcome what is happening in the best way.

The most important thing at the moment and at least for the rest of the year will be to work to strengthen the sector and its recovery after the economic effects that COVID-19 is leaving, we are working on a preventive sanitary mitigation plan with the measures of necessary biosecurity that will be presented to the Government, so that operators can open the establishments once the quarantine decreed for the country has ended.

Likewise, we consider that to mitigate a little the economic impact that this crisis is generating, the entry of remanufactured machines that are certified and endorsed by distributors and / or manufacturers that have a license must be approved, of course these machines must meet the requirements of Reliability, this provision, would allow operators to obtain game elements such as METs at a lower cost than they have the capacity to assume.

On the other hand, and to the extent possible, the Federation will continue with the action plan that had already been drawn up before these events that have been unexpected for the country, within which it contemplated, the monitoring of the conditions of reliability established by Coljuegos and which comply with the stipulations of the mandatory implementation of the national development plan.

Fecoljuegos will also continue to work in greater coordination with the financial sector, an advance that has been made in approaches with the Fintech Association, with the aim of finding opportunities that allow the sector to take advantage of the new technology. Likewise, we will continue working for the business social reputation of the sector, we will continue positioning the Colombian industry as an activity committed to the country's economy and the well-being of Colombians, this is a sector that makes significant contributions and we have to tell the public opinion.

What can you tell us about the development of the advertising self-regulation manual you have planned to start this year?

This is the update of a code of ethics that already exists and that the Federation had subscribed at some point with its affiliates, this time what we want is to include a specific chapter for online operation, in which some rules of mutual agreement between those operated to self-regulate the commercial communications handled by the bookmakers.

It is a business sustainability initiative that seeks to strengthen the social responsibility of the industry and which will include principles of identification, truthfulness, responsible gambling and legality, protection of minors, guidelines for audiovisual communications, guidelines to promote integrity in competitions sports, among others. Our intention is to bring together in different work tables the operators authorized to work together with them in the manual that will be an important guide for this type of game that will position us as a reliable and transparent industry in our actions.