Multinational company Enjoy launched February EnjoyWin.com, its online gambling and betting platform targeted at the Brazilian market, an initiative that is expected to become the company’s new “big” business.
In an interview with Yogonet, EnjoyWin’s Business Manager, Juan Ignacio Juanena, said that the new online brand will seek to position itself in the “seventh largest country in the world” based on a proposal that differentiates it from its competitors.
Additionally, the executive shared his opinion about the debates on the regulation of the online sector that is currently taking place in Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay and highlighted that the company has an “optimistic” stance regarding the evolution of these discussions.
Enjoy has highlighted the magnitude of the online market in Brazil as a reason for the launch of EnjoyWin. Considering this is a diverse audience spread across many jurisdictions, what will your strategy in this country be?
Brazil has more than 215 million people; it is the seventh-largest country in the world and owns 50% of the continent’s territory. It is impossible for an operator to initially want to cover all the states unless you have an unlimited budget. Enjoy has a well-recognized brand presence in the South and Southeast regions of the country, which makes the states within those regions the main attraction of our brand.
However, we also recognize the existence of other commercial opportunities that exist in regions that today are not considered by many of the operators that have entered the country.
What are the first goals you have set for EnjoyWin in Brazil?
Enjoy is the entertainment leader in the region, and although it initially aims at building customer loyalty, it is going to position itself in the market as one of the major operators with a differential proposal backed by several attributes that are highly valued by players. Enjoy arrives to the market with a different value proposition, brand support, and a recognized trajectory that allows it to position itself from a different perspective and with a closeness to the public that is not as usual.
The Enjoy brand is a great attraction, not only for players but also for various commercial partners who understand the difference and the impact this has not only on an online operation but also on a future omnichannel, global proposal aimed at all of Latin America.
The legal situation of gambling in Brazil is facing conflicting positions at the parliamentary and political levels, generating a context of certain uncertainty. What is your expectation regarding this situation?
We are closely following the regulation of sports betting in Brazil as well as the news regarding a possible regulation of the other gaming verticals, and we certainly hope, as the whole industry, that progress can be made. We have gone through similar processes in previous years without being able to achieve it, and although we are optimistic, we know the difficulties that each country has in aligning all those involved, especially in the case of Brazil, where there are so many conflicting interests.
Although EnjoyWin’s platform will operate only in Brazil, they have indicated that they are waiting for the online gaming regulation in Chile and Uruguay to be legislated and resolved in order to start operating in both markets. What is your perspective regarding the legal debate that is taking place in both countries?
We are optimistic. We believe that both countries have started to discuss the regulation of online gaming, which is a good sign. Specifically, in the case of Uruguay, there is a bill that was already approved last year in the Senate and is awaiting discussion in the Chamber of Deputies, where we believe it will be possible to move forward. It is a bill that defends the interests of local operators and employees and their jobs, which is appropriate for a smaller market such as Uruguay.
Of course, there are aspects of the project that could be improved. Sports betting should be included within it, as has been done around the world, and there should not be a single operation in the country. But today, we need to move forward and, based on a new existing regulation, deal with the issues that are pending with more time for discussion.
If we were to discuss all the issues that could be considered in an online gaming regulation project, it would take us a year or more to move forward; this online regulation is a real need that operators have and has been waiting for many years. Online gaming is constantly changing; it requires adapting the laws and regulations as technology advances, and what is not included in this project, undoubtedly, can be considered in a second stage.
We are optimistic, and we are convinced that Uruguay and Chile will have online regulation this year. These are countries that have historically been innovative and have bet on technology and the development of these sectors.
