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During the fourth edition of CGS Rio and the tenth event organized by CGS Events in Brazil, a conversation took place with Elizabeth Leiva Goycochea, a gaming industry executive with more than 25 years of experience and founder of CGS Events, an organization specializing in strategic conferences for C-level executives, government authorities and industry leaders.

During a cocktail reception held after the event, Leiva shared her reflections on this year’s edition and her perspective on the current stage of Brazil’s gaming market.

A meeting point for the industry

According to the founder of CGS Events, the 2026 edition of CGS Rio confirmed that Brazil’s betting market is entering a new phase of maturity and consolidation.

“What we saw in Rio was not simply an event, but a true meeting point for more than 200 executives who participated throughout the day, including regulators, operators, technology providers and compliance specialists. The level of discussion showed that the industry is moving from a stage of expectation to a stage of real construction of the regulated market,” said Elizabeth Leiva Goycochea.

For the executive, the event has established itself as an interdisciplinary and inter-institutional forum where government representatives, regulators, operators and industry specialists come together to build dialogue and strategic vision for the development of the market.

Technical panels and leadership for an evolving industry

The conference program featured high-level technical panels and discussions on key topics such as responsible gaming, regulation, compliance, innovation, leadership and sustainability within the sector.

Among the highlights of the event, Leiva mentioned the participation of Paulo Horn, president of the Gaming and Lotteries Commission of OAB-RJ; Giovanni Rocco, representative of Brazil’s Ministry of Sports; Plínio Augusto Lemos Jorge, president of the Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias; and Bárbara Teles from Playtech Brasil.

During the panel, they analyzed how collaboration between the public sector, private investment and tourism can help boost local and regional economies.

The event also featured a leadership segment led by speaker Iuri Castro, former representative of Brazil’s Ministry of Finance, as well as the participation of Hazenclever Lopes Cançado, president of LOTERJ, who highlighted the importance of the future development of the casino industry in Brazil.

One of the most celebrated moments was a conversation with Susan Bala from Advanced Compliance Technology; Witoldo Hendrich Júnior from Hendrich Advogados; and Luciana Hendrich from Cledx.

The experts analyzed similarities and differences between the regulatory processes in North America and Brazil, two regions moving toward more structured markets while facing their own unique challenges.

A new format for CGS conferences

This year, CGS Events also announced the introduction of a new format for its conferences, designed to respond to the needs of an increasingly professionalized market.

According to Elizabeth Leiva Goycochea, the first day will focus on a full conference agenda covering commercial, operational and marketing topics, as well as local and international market trends, security and compliance.

“The second day will focus on the practical and business side, with specialized workshops and a solutions showroom where companies can present technologies and services, while keeping the most important element of the industry in mind: connections and networking,” she explained.

A moment of progress and debate

During the conversation, the executive also referred to the political context currently unfolding in Brazil and comments made by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva regarding the growth of the betting sector and the possibility of restricting certain digital games.

These comments could generate concern among parts of the regulated industry, but Leiva believes the situation should be analyzed from a broader perspective.

“Brazil has just built a regulated system with licenses, investment, regulatory compliance and tax generation. This same government issued the regulation in 2023, generating very positive fiscal results for the Brazilian economy. Therefore, it should not be interpreted as a setback or an attack on the sector, but rather as a phase of stabilization in which political and social debates about how the model should evolve are still emerging, particularly within the context of a political campaign.”

The executive added that these discussions may also be linked to broader technical, economic and social debates about the future of gaming in Brazil. These include the fight against illegal gambling and the possibility of developing new verticals such as bingo operations and land-based casinos integrated with tourism, a proposal that Brazil’s Congress has been analyzing for several years.

The challenge of institutional dialogue

For Elizabeth Leiva Goycochea, the industry’s current challenge is not to move backward, but to refine the regulated system and further professionalize the sector.

This involves strengthening responsible gaming mechanisms, improving advertising and affiliate regulations, reinforcing controls against match-fixing, combating the illegal market and providing legal certainty for companies that have invested in Brazil’s regulated market.

A signature closing: the Chat & Wine segment

The event concluded with one of the most distinctive segments of CGS Rio: Chat & Wine, a space designed for open conversations between industry leaders in a more relaxed but equally strategic environment.

According to Leiva, this format was introduced five editions ago and has since become one of the most anticipated moments of the event. Panelists are selected together with sponsors, topics are defined collaboratively and the audience actively participates in the discussion.

“It is a space where every opinion is welcome. An open, respectful and strategic dialogue that does not exist in other industry formats. It is innovation on another level,” she concluded.

Next stop: CGS Brasilia

Finally, Elizabeth Leiva Goycochea invited industry stakeholders to participate in the next event organized by CGS Events, CGS Brasilia, which will take place on May 5–6, 2026.

The event aims to continue strengthening dialogue between industry and authorities at a key moment for the development and understanding of the sector within Brazil’s governmental sphere.More information is available on the event’s official website.