PS promotes e-sports conference to regulate sector

This Tuesday, the PS is promoting a parliamentary conference on eSports (electronic sports) with the aim of starting a debate and listening to experts and organisations in the sector before putting forward a legislative initiative to regulate this activity.

Speaking to the Lusa agency, PS deputy Miguel Costa Matos explained the objectives of the PS at this meeting, which will take place on Tuesday afternoon at the Assembly of the Republic, in a sector that, according to him, is “a market that already has a value of more than 1.7 billion euros worldwide and which already has more than 500 thousand viewers.”

“This is an opportunity for us to understand, together with these organizations, how to regulate esports and to have, when parliamentary work resumes, a legislative initiative that embodies this dehydration and allows this phenomenon to have more clarity, more security and more rights for those who engage in esports, for those who watch it, for those who invest money in it,” he predicted.

According to the PS deputy, thousands of athletes practice e-sports in Portugal, and the country was “European champion of e-football” two years ago, “a phenomenon that fills rooms, moves crowds and attracts more and more practitioners”.

“Although the activity is deregulated, we know of cases where, for example, prizes are paid in shopping vouchers instead of cash, there is no proper protection of the rights of professional players, there are no precautions necessary from a health point of view,” he said.

The goal of PS is to facilitate discussion with “people of different opinions, specializing in both sports and video games and eSports.”

“Our goal is to listen to the entire community to understand how we can provide more safety and more regulation for this activity so that it can continue to grow, but in a socially equitable way,” he explained.

According to Miguel Costa Matos, there are several different opinions on whether e-sports should have a legislative profile more similar to a sporting modality or more similar to a cultural or economic activity.

According to the Socialist, after this parliamentary conference, the goal is to raise enough funds in the coming months to present a legislative initiative.

“It’s time to start the debate. We can’t continue to ignore the fact that there are thousands of people playing, watching, investing in this sector and so we need to have this debate and we need to move forward on regulation and regulation. This needs to happen as quickly as possible,” he said.

According to the conference program, there will be a discussion on the topic of “Public Policy and Sports Law” with the participation of law professor José Manuel Meirim, IPDJ President Vitor Pataco and lawyer Fernando da Veiga Gomes.

Next comes the space “School Participation of eSports Players” with the participation of researcher Thiago Ribeiro and the president of the National Association of Group and Public School Directors, Filinto Lima.

The discussion on the topic of “Prevention and Health Promotion” will feature the clinical director of the Portuguese Electronic Sports Federation, Filipe Simbron, and the researcher Joana Cardoso.

There will also be panel discussions on “Culture, History and Economic Opportunity” and another on “A Fair and Competitive Tax and Labor System,” featuring tax law professor Carlos Lobo and lawyer João Leitão Figueiredo.

Before the closing, which will be led by the conference’s deputy rapporteurs André Pinotes Batista and Miguel Costa Matos, there will be a public hearing of the eSports community, in which two dozen people will take part.