Gustavo Guimarães, Secretary of Evaluation and Lotteries at Brazil’s Ministry of Economy, opened the first edition of BiS talking about his positive vision of the gaming sector. “We could talk about numbers, but you all know the market's potential. And Brazil, due to its dimensions, presents itself or even needs no introduction,” he said.
According to Guimarães, "the sector is at a unique moment and we have a lot of space, both in terms of competitiveness and business improvement, for the activity to prosper."
The secretary stated that the change in taxation was very positive for sports betting. “I am sure that the gaming sector will contribute to the economic recovery. We need one more engine to accelerate the economy and we believe in this activity as a vector in this regard,” he said.
Guimarães commented that the work being done in the Chamber of Deputies to define a regulatory framework will bring a lot of transparency and fair rules for everyone. Regarding the legal deadline for regulating betting, he stated that "we are not going to leave anything to the last minute."
The secretary demonstrated in his presentation the growth of lottery collection between 2017 and 2020, "and our expectation is that this will also be repeated in 2021."
There is a market that also needs to be incorporated, according to him, which is the instant lottery, which after the end of the Union's monopoly for the operation of the sector, caused the Lotex process to change course. "It's an aspect that needs to be very well thought out to add to the operations of state lotteries and contribute to economic recovery."
Guimarães highlighted that the gaming sector is heading towards a bright future. “Today we have the laws that guide lotteries and sports betting, which are already legalized, and will soon be regulated. Not regulating is the worst scenario and we cannot let the moment pass.”
As for the casinos, the secretary sees it with good eyes, “but we still depend on a legislative decision. It is clear that the potential is for tax collection between R$16 and R$18 billion per year, and Brazil cannot fail to take advantage of this opportunity.”
"We have been working hard to offer good regulation for all the activity and ,in this sense, we are in direct contact with the Executive and the Legislature to ensure that everything runs smoothly and in the shortest possible time," he guaranteed.
Source: GMB
