With lawmakers in Brazil preparing to vote on landmark legislation as early as November, gaming and leisure industry consultant The Innovation Group has announced that it is in the process of developing a national gaming forecast model for the South American nation.

The American firm has offices in Denver, Orlando, New Orleans, New York and Aspen and revealed that it is also establishing a consortium with Brazilian firms BetConsult and Federico Lannes IGC designed to provide local clients with comprehensive gaming regulatory and development services.

“With over 200 million inhabitants, Brazil is one of the largest untapped gaming markets in the world,” read a statement from The Innovation Group. “Brazil’s most recent efforts to address gaming represent the most ambitious since its prohibition 70 years ago. Standing legislation would allow both destination casinos and bingo halls and potentially online gaming opportunities. The Special Commission On National Development approved Bill 186 by a wide margin last December and is currently negotiating revised versions from the Senate under the hand of Senator Fernando Bezerra and the Chamber Of Representatives where a vote on Deputy Guilherme Mussi’s rewrite is expected to occur next week.”

The Innovation Group, which intends to participate at November’s Brazilian Gaming Conference, declared that it is “hard at work” alongside government officials to address regulatory parameters and prepare analytical tools designed to “estimate revenue potential and profitability under a wide range of bingo, casino and potentially online gaming opportunities”.

“The Innovation Group’s national gaming demand model can be adapted to reflect multiple legislative scenarios and can efficiently provide customized analyses for specific states, cities and sites with sufficient input from clients,” read the statement from The Innovation Group.

The legislation currently being considered could see Brazil legalize up to three casinos in states with more than 25 million inhabitants while municipalities may soon permit at least one bingo hall. In addition, the measure may well see horseracing tracks and stadiums with a capacity above 15,000 allowed to site a maximum of 300 slots with online gambling, which was removed from earlier drafts, reintroduced.

“The consortium is urging clients to give careful thought to the best strategies for market entry,” read the statement from The Innovation Group. “The obvious play for larger companies will likely be to flock to Rio De Janeiro or Sao Paulo with the ambition to develop large destination resorts. This may be a home run for a few with the promise of high revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization volumes. Others will stick to route operations in bingo halls, a proven high return on investment play globally.

“However, the market will be extremely sensitive to the diversity of socioeconomic strata in Brazil. Intense poverty, unpredictable local politics and security concerns could make some of the most obvious locations the most difficult and the least lucrative. We believe there will be “sleepers” throughout the vast stretches of Brazil, pockets of opportunity to evaluate.”