During SAGSE LATAM, Skilrock, a company of the Indian group Sugal & Damani, exhibited its product and service solutions aimed at the lottery and gaming industry.
Alexandre Tauszig, the company's LATAM regional manager, took advantage of the continent's most important gaming fair to launch the ebook ‘Alea Jacta Est’ (The Dice Was Launched, from Latin), which deals with gambling in Brazil.
The author highlights, in the opening note of the publication, that the Brazilian market is extremely dynamic and with many legislative changes, which is why he guides readers to make their analyzes considering the date the ebook was written (March/2022) and that be attentive to changes in the legislative or market scenario.
He explains that he does not have “the presumption to bring a treaty on the subject of gambling in Brazil. It is suitable for all people who are not directly involved with this industry and who want to know more about the topic. It is also suitable for foreigners who want to know a little more about the complex Brazilian gambling Market.”
In the book, Tauszig clarifies that despite what is imagined, gambling is not prohibited in Brazil, adopting the concept presented in a SECAP webinar (Secretariat of Lottery Evaluation of the Ministry of Economy).
He talks about the Criminal Misdemeanors Act of 1941, which prohibited the practice or exploitation of gambling in Brazil, clarifies the concept of the term, as “one in which gain and loss depend exclusively or mainly on luck.”
The book presents historical curiosities about gambling, dating back to antiquity, with archaeological findings dating from two to three thousand years before Christ, such as dice, game boards and even bets during fights between Roman gladiators. In the ebook he points out that it is possible that an ancient Chinese lottery helped finance the Great Wall of China.
Regarding the topicality of the subject, Tauszig highlights that Brazil is one of the few countries in the world where gambling is prohibited due to the Criminal Misdemeanors Law, but practiced in the form of lotteries and horse racing bets (also prohibited by the said law).
“A foreigner may think that there is no gambling in Brazil. But in fact there is. In addition to legal gambling, widely known in the country, whose main actor is “Loterias Caixa”, illegal gambling is present in the four corners of Brazil, such as the joog do bicho, slot machines, clandestine casinos, among others.”
He says that in 2018 he had access to a study that points to estimates on the number of direct workers in illegal gambling in Brazil. “It was on the order of 950 thousand people.” And, according to him, dozens of bingos currently operate in Brazil using legal assistance loopholes, as well as capitalization bonds. “The capitalization market grew 5.9% in 2021, with total revenues of R$ 24.3 billion.”
He also points out that sports betting, decriminalized in 2018 with the enactment of law 13,756, is awaiting regulation. He also mentions lotteries, the oldest in Brazil being the one of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, created in 1843.
Tauszig recalls, in his ebook, that gambling was recently approved by the Chamber of Deputies, of a bill that resumes activity in Brazil, which is still being analyzed by the Senate.
Regarding the collection of Loterias Caixa, it reports that in 2021 it reached the sum of R$ 18.5 billion, while the revenue from illegal gambling in Brazil was estimated at R$ 27 billion.
The book also deals with the themes of gambling, responsible gambling, fraud and money laundering, and Tauszig mentions that “the banning of gambling does not contribute to the control of the aforementioned problems; on the contrary, it causes it to increase without the State having clear statistical data to manage the issue.
To access Alexandre Tauszig's ebook, sponsored by Skilrock, click here.
Source: GMB
