In this sense, one of the topics under discussion is to restrict the sponsorship of bookmakers to professional sports, leaving out, for example, youth categories. This would apply, for example, to advertising on team jerseys, but also to betting on games in youth categories or even lower divisions, whose control may turn out to be more difficult.
Another idea on the table is to limit the hours of advertisements in the media and prevent, for example, being broadcast on children's channels and programs. Guarantee mechanisms are also discussed so that bettors are not subject to adventurous companies. In this sense, some minimum criteria, such as representation in the country and capital, may end up being included in the regulation.
The process is led by Secap and is involving not only areas within the Ministry of Economy, such as BNDES, PPI, Federal Revenue and the Attorney General of the National Treasury (PGFN), but also outside, such as the Ministry of Justice, Central Bank, Coaf, Citizenship (Sports) and even the Civil House.
According to Guimarães, in the midst of this phase of “beating” by different government agencies, one of the ideas is to carry out regulation in stages. The other is to go for complete regulation. According to the secretary, this last alternative tends to take longer, which could delay market development in Brazil.
“Our opinion here at Secap is that it is important that the rules are known, the sooner the better. We can make the whole set of rules and launch it on December 31, 2022 or we can bring the main, fundamental rules, with some limits to start with the market. It would work as a kind of sandbox, which the BC is already doing, opening up the market and experimenting [the result of the regulation],” said Guimarães.
“Regulations evolve naturally. But that's what I say, it's better to release some regulation that has points to be improved later, but that is already clear to everyone and the market can start working,” he added.
The effort is to forward this regulation in the first half of next year, giving more predictability to the segment that is already operating in Brazil, but through foreign platforms, and taking advantage of the impulse of the World Cup. The secretariat has already identified 400 internet betting portals operating in Brazil, although most of them are websites that offer some service, such as sports statistics, and redirect to betting websites based internationally.
Guimarães does not consider that Brazil would be “behind the curve” when it comes to the regulation of sports betting. According to him, it is important to take into account the complexity of the topic, with issues such as money laundering risks, the need to protect bettors from scams, mitigate risks of addiction (responsible gaming) and the integrity of the sport, at the same time in which an attempt is made not to create a model that ends up discouraging a market with enormous potential for generating jobs and also for raising funds for the federal coffers, which can contribute to fiscal adjustment.
The secretary believes that, given that the tax design was well resolved in the law passed in Congress this year, a well-designed regulation will be attractive to the sector and will not inhibit the entry of participants. According to him, after the regulation is issued (which will be by decree), the government will have the power to stop operations by anyone who wants to work in Brazil without qualifying in the country.
In addition to the regulation of sports betting, the government is discussing what to do in relation to Lotex - a betting company in the scratch-card modality. With the decision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to release the States to operate lotteries of this type, Guimarães said that it is under analysis that Caixa Econômica Federal may participate in the new concession auction. The state-owned bank, which held this concession, was excluded from the previous event, which in the end was unsuccessful.
The decision to include Caixa, however, has not yet been taken and, according to him, depends on reading, among other aspects, how much longer it would take to issue a new notice.
Source: Fabio Graner - Valor
