The 2024 edition of the international Peru Gaming Show (PGS) will take place on June 12 and 13 at the Jockey Exhibition Center in Lima, with more than 70 confirmed brands and an expansion of the exhibition space to almost 8,000 square meters.
Rubén Solórzano, General Manager Director of Peru Gaming Show, leads the event and, two months before this new meeting, he discussed his expectations for this year, analyzed the current economic and political situation of the country, and anticipated the work planned for 2024.
PGS is one of the most anticipated fairs in the industry in Latin America with more than 20 editions. Can you tell us a little about the progress and expectations for this new 2024 edition?
The PGS team has done an extraordinary job since the end of PGS 2023, and the call for the most important and representative brands of the industry has had an almost immediate response. Exhibitors of land-based games were the first to confirm their participation. Many of them asked to keep the same spaces they occupied in the last edition.
The second group of exhibitors that fought to have a space in PGS 2024 were those of remote games, sports betting, and online games. They are excited to attend because regulation for their verticals has been approved.
Currently, the main floor for the PGS 2024 expo, June 12 and 13, the most expected fair in Latam, is full. The organizers have decided to expand the extension of the ground.
Could you tell us a little about the trajectory and evolution of PGS in these more than two decades of promoting the gaming industry?
We are about to celebrate 21 years of uninterrupted trajectory. Peru Gaming Show – PGS was created to be part of the sector and contribute to its development and growth.
The gaming industry is a sector that, like any other activity, has an important role in the economic life of the country. This is because, with the payment of taxes, a source of income for the State contributes to other sectors that require income and financing such as Tourism, the Peruvian Sports Institute, the Central Government, and Health.
After almost twelve years with a new administration, PGS has managed to position itself as the most important gaming fair in the region.
With the coming into force of the law that regulates the operation of remote games and sports betting in Peru, could you share your opinion on how this will benefit the national economy?
During the pandemic period, remote games had such a dynamic that kept them operating. They never stopped, unlike land-based games that were closed until the end of the sanitary crisis. The post-pandemic results were extraordinary and did not stop; the growth observed is exponential.
In this context, Peru can not be an island in the face of this development, especially since it has had a law since 2022. In December 2023 the regulation for remote gaming of sports betting and online games was enacted. It is clear that the greater the growth of the activity there will be more income and more collection for the State, which in turn, will replicate the sectors to which it assigns resources for the social good.
Likewise, the Peruvian market will be favored because new players will enter the market with the desire to invest in new companies, and due to a multiplier effect, new collateral businesses will be created around the industry, making new jobs possible.
PGS 2023
What challenges and opportunities do you see for companies in this new regulatory framework?
In a globalized world like the one we live in, competition is part of the conglomerate where everyone is looking for the best opportunities to obtain and fulfill the projected objectives and goals.
In Peru, after the gaming market is regulated in all business lines or verticals, these opportunities that a mature market offers are presented. The regulation allows large companies and corporations to have the confidence to invest with the security that in the country there are clear rules, supervision, and protection for the player.
As an economist, how do you project the country’s economy in terms of future investments?
Peru has had an extraordinary performance. We have had six presidents in six years, and there have been political crises that for many countries would have meant economic bankruptcy. However, the Peruvian economy resists all these attacks and remains one of the most stable in the region, not to say the world.
The exchange rate is stable, with ups and downs, but not major ones. Inflation is already within the target range of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCR), 3%; projections estimate that, despite all the political craze, it will have a growth close to 3% by the end of 2024.
Mining investments, the main support of the GDP, which had decreased, are again recovering, and agribusiness is breaking records in exports such as blueberries, table grapes, avocado, mango, paprika, and cochineal, among others. Gastronomy is the best in the world, tourism is a world reference.
If Peru had only half of the current political turmoil, it would surely be the strongest economy in the continent, as it was in the years 2010 – 2019, whose average growth was almost 5% per year. It is difficult to project what could happen in Peru between now and 2026 due to the current political environment, but what is certain is that the economy is recovering strength and some institutions still support it. The gaming sector is one of the most stable and formal.
What role do events such as PGS have in this new economic panorama?
PGS is a reference within the sector and the industry. It plays an important role in the activity and has clear objectives to make the tradeshow event a determining element to perceive and find the new, the creative in slot machines, gaming platforms, software and all kinds of state-of-the-art developments. All the brands and companies that participate in the exhibition inside the fairground are extraordinarily positioned in the world.
Those who participate in the PGS exhibition know that it is the most global and largest showcase in the industry. In addition, PGS strives to leave an academic legacy for all. It does not profess commercialism; knowledge is for everyone and should have that flavor of freedom to teach and learn.
Gathering the most important companies in the industry to articulate with national and foreign operators is a way of enabling potential business internally. As a consequence, there are higher overall revenues, tax collection, and employment.
It was reported that you had to expand the floor of the exhibition hall due to high exhibitor demand, how many brands have confirmed their space so far?
The main floor of the exhibition hall was filled months ago. There are still many requests; we have meetings arranged with clients in Peru and abroad. All this makes us foresee that the current space is too small and we must expand the space to almost 8 thousand square meters. We currently have more than 70 brands confirmed.
What aspects is the organization mapping out for PGS 2025?
Based on what is happening in the global market, it is most likely that in 2025 the exhibitors of remote games will have more prominence. However, the always inventive nature of land-based games makes it a very relevant and dynamic industry. Both business lines are complementary and not in competition. PGS plans to make academic presentations next year, which will be announced in due time.
In addition, I am very pleased with the results and achievements of PGS in these years of activity, having a team with a lot of identification and desire to offer the best has been decisive. We will continue with the same approach thinking in the sector, and its growing evolution with high-level business and professional players.
