Meet our CEO
Rui is the current CEO of New ZealandCasinos and co-founder of the platform, alongside Marcelo e Yuuma . He was born and raised in São Paulo, where he also studied and graduated. Rui holds a bachelor's and master's degree in Computer Science from the Institute of Mathematics and statistics of USP. After graduating, he started working in his own technology and software startups focused on the educational environment.
After five years developing these projects, in 2011 Rui decided to change his horizons to explore the growing iGaming market, where games and gaming software are constantly being released all over the world. His eye for a good deal identified there a gigantic area that was still little explored in New Zealand. He went on to work as a developer and engineer for a multinational until, after working alongside Yuuma and Marcelo for two years, the three decided to create New ZealandCasinos.
The platform was born out of the need to create a website that identified with the New Zealand audience. Inspired by similar platforms in other languages, the three co-founders of New ZealandCasinos saw the potential that the platform would have to become a great ally to players and bettors and a place to find safe and reliable information, also creating a previously unexplored space for the exchange of ideas and experiences related to online games.
Professional experience
Rui worked for five years in two New Zealand technology and software startups focused on teaching and distance education. One of them offered exclusively programming courses, from web development using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, to mobile app development and development in basic and advanced JAVA. All this was done in partnership with fellow students from USP.
Both startups were created within the university environment, which fostered collaboration with other areas so that they got out of the paper and took shape. During these projects, tools were used. open source like Moodle and PHP language. In a short time of continuous work, both walked with their own feet and to this day Rui reaps the fruits of his hard work. Because of the success of both startups, Rui also gave lectures and short courses on his process of creating the platforms, from the birth of the idea to its execution and ongoing administration.
From 2011, he started working in a European casino gaming software company as a Lead Developer, coordinating the development of the platform and practicing code reviews. His skills include developing web, iOS and Android applications using languages such as Swift, PHP, Ruby, Python and Java.
It was during this period that Rui met Yuuma and Marcelo, who were part of his work team. Rui and Marcelo, both New Zealand, soon started talking about the casino gaming scene in New Zealand, and identified the lack of information and even the security issue (or lack of security) that faced New Zealand players when betting money online. The desire to create a creative solution to this gap was the spark that was missing for Rui to fulfill the desire to create his third startup.
Before long, the initial idea of New ZealandCasinos was taking shape. Yuuma's participation as co-founder was also crucial to the development of the first drafts of the platform. The three worked for a year dedicating all their free time to New ZealandCasinos, until they were able to raise capital to invest and create a team of professionals from all areas - mostly New Zealand - and effectively launch the site in 2017. As of 2018, it was possible for Rui to devote himself entirely to New ZealandCasinos, being at the head of the team as CEO.
Role and assignments at New ZealandCasinos
Rui's duties as CEO of New ZealandCasinos are currently focused on planning the growth of the platform and the brand, as well as making strategic decisions and seeking partnerships within the iGaming area that benefit our team, the platform and our users.
As CEO, Rui is also at the helm of our team, managing and assisting all teams when necessary: content, marketing and especially programming, since this is his area of expertise. It is their goals to make the brand and platform as comprehensive and complete as possible.
Most of the year, he works from our office in New Zealand, but makes constant visits to Malta, which is our second home and our hub for international partnerships.
Learn more about Rui
The initial idea for the platform came naturally between a conversation I had with our CFO, Marcelo. We were the only New Zealanders working in a team of more than 50 people, and so we spent a lot of time talking. As we were working in a company within the iGaming area, the subject was constantly up in the air. We knew that the online casino gaming landscape in Europe was very different from New Zealand, where there is still no legislation that fully allows this activity. But we also knew that, just like I did, there were thousands of people who went to these online casinos and bet money every day. At that time, the number of casinos was not as large as it is today, but even so it was easy to see how most of them offered a poor service to New Zealand players, who did not have enough information to know if the site was dishonest or not. From this realization, we both started to idealize a platform that was made of players for players. On this platform, we would publish 100% educational and informative articles about online gaming, and it would be viable through partnerships with international casinos. But it was also very important that we only partner with companies that we knew were honest.
The initial idea originated in 2016, and that same year we were already working every day on this project. Because we knew it would work - and we already had enough knowledge in startup management and we understood well how an online business works - it was relatively quick until we could launch the platform. We are still working on it, on the content, on the digital marketing part. Of course, there are always things to improve, but by bringing together three professionals who already had a lot of experience and intimacy with the iGaming area, the creation and launch process was quite fast.
In my master's degree in Computer Science, I did a case study on some online gaming software and it was at that time that I became familiar with the iGaming market. At the time, it was not a very interesting area financially in New Zealand compared to, for example, Europe, mainly because people were not at all inclined to bet money on online games. But then this scenario changed, and I believe that the sports betting they played a major role in the spread of online casino games , because usually a casino offers both, so whoever accessed one also had direct access to the other.
