With poker alone, initial estimates made by the Ministry based on figures gathered by companies in the sector indicate that competitions can generate R$ 2.2 billion annually in public revenue in Brazil.
The resources would be collected through the taxation of income tax of 20% on prizes and through market movement, with the organization of events and ticket collection, for example. The main reference used in the discussions is the United Kingdom, which has private revenues of US$ 432 million in online poker alone, according to data from the European Gaming and Betting Association.
Gustavo Guimarães, Secretary of Evaluation, Planning, Energy and Lottery at the Ministry of Economy, says that the main reason for regulation is not to raise revenue, but to unlock the market and move the activity.
Even so, one of the main arguments of the folder to debate the subject is the generation of resources for the creation of public policies in the future.
"I want this activity to enter public accounting, enter the GDP and come (bring) collection - but not because I'm creating a new tax," Guimarães said. “We are thinking of generating this revenue for other areas and, at the same time, stimulating an activity”, he added.
For Guimarães, the market is important not only in the short term – as it can generate income and employment – but it can also be beneficial to the economy in the long term by stimulating even the cognitive capacity of individuals.
One of the main stakeholders in the regulation is Igor Trafane, vice president of ABJH (Brazilian Association of Skill Games). His goal is to make clear in the country's legislation that poker and other games – such as chess and checkers – are not games of chance.
Differentiation is important for entrepreneurs because games of chance are prohibited in Brazil by legislation created decades ago, leading to competitions to be surrounded by legal uncertainties.
“What is our cause? Separating in legislative and regulatory terms games of chance from games of skill,” said Trafane in a virtual seminar in recent days.
To meet the requests for changes, the government already has the draft of a decree that must adapt the legislation and allow the organizers of competitions to have as a source of revenue the realization of events.
One of the main changes in the proposal is the definition of what a game of mental skill is. By the text, still under discussion, it will be determined that it is the one that depends mainly on the skill, intelligence, dexterity or knowledge of the players – and not luck (such as lotteries, bingo and roulette).
For the Ministry of Economy, activities such as poker, pool, boules, bowling, billiards, backgammon, dominoes and eSports can be considered games of skill.
According to the folder, most of them are currently in a nebulous field of legality, largely due to the lack of a framework that would guarantee legal security to competitors.
To support the argument, the ministry even resorted to a report from the Criminalistics Institute of the Secretariat of Public Security of the State of São Paulo, which points out that poker has skill as a preponderant requirement.
The expectation is that the changes will distance poker and other modalities from a decree-law created 80 years ago (the Penal Misdemeanors Act of 1941) that determines imprisonment for those who “establish or exploit gambling in a public place or accessible to the public, with or without a down payment.”
“We want legal security. Our cause is not to allow laws to be created and to generate confusion between games of chance and skill. And also to preserve investments, jobs and taxes in the country,” said Trafane.
The flexibility of gaming rules also has supporters in Congress, where the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), signals that he can discuss projects that can go further and pave the way for the regularization of games such as bingos.
In government, Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) has a liberal stance with the games and his portfolio encourages flexibility on different fronts.
The economic team holder defended the gaming sector a little over a year ago at a meeting of government ministers, including as a way of collecting funds from business tourists.
“The guy comes in, leaves money that he earned the day before yesterday, he leaves it there, drinks, leaves life happy,” Guedes said at a ministerial meeting in May 2020 (whose content was released by the Judiciary).
Source: Fábio Pupo, da Folhapress
