, Devanir Campos and Rafael Moraes talk about the rise of poker in Brazil and future plans.){kind=link}
Brazil is not a traditionally poker-loving country, but it is increasingly present on the world stage of the game. This is the perception of the CO-CEOs of the Brazilian Series of Poker (BSOP), Devanir Campos and Rafael Moraes.
“The BSOP is the Brazilian Poker Championship. We already have almost 20 years of history and we are in the 16th season. Brazil is not a country that has a tradition of playing poker; We have other card games, such as truco, hole, lock, etc.”, explained Devanir Campos.
“We had a tournament that is now in the Top 3 in the world. It is the biggest competition in Latin America. We distributed more than 125 million reais and we are the third competition that distributes the most prizes”, he added.
While Rafael Moraes explained that poker “grows 50% every year in Brazil. When I started, there were few professionals. BSOP is part of building this scenario. And we had the Winter Millions with the biggest stage in July, with nine days of event.”
Currently, it is estimated that ten million Brazilians are regular poker players. For Moraes, the inclusion of influencers and big names in the sport helped this ‘boom’ in the sport.
“I think this was one of the great things that happened and helped to democratize poker and break down prejudice. When Ronaldo started to be proud and show it, then came Neymar, who is the sixth biggest influencer on the planet.”
“Poker is lucky to have this guy. I’m a personal friend of his; It’s incredible how much he loves poker. In his free time, he gets together with his friends and holds a championship”, he added.
Future of BSOP
The organization will have two important events later this year, one in Rio de Janeiro in October and the main one in November, in São Paulo. “What everyone can expect is that the events will get bigger and more fun,” he said.
“We have a strategy to internationalize and show how big our market is and how relevant our championship is in this scenario. We want to attract the greatest players in the world to visit our country and compete in our championship”, concluded Devanir Campos.