GMB – Did Brazil need to get to the point of discussing sporting integrity and how to combat match-fixing? Have we reached an unpleasant point?
Rafael Marchetti Marcondes – The point is certainly unpleasant and sensitive. It demands everyone's attention – government and private initiative. Because what is at stake is the integrity of sport and the spectacle around which a number of entertainment industries revolve. So, answering your question, yes.
I think Brazil has to discuss this type of conduct. This happens more recurrently in Brazil due to the lack of regulation. This will be constant, even if there is a regulated market, this type of discussion will continue to happen. As an association, we bring together the public and private sectors so that together we can combat this type of activity. As much as a means of avoiding a certain behavior is developed, the corruptor is always trying to circumvent the rules. In my view this is constant, but it is very accelerated by the lack of regulation.
Does this process and these complaints help to speed up the regulation process, which is being signed by President Lula?
Unfortunately, this is negative news, but this somehow shows the importance of the issue for the government and sensitizes it to edit the Provisional Measure as soon as possible. Not only the Provisional Measure, which is a step, but the regulatory framework will be missing, which are several Ordinances. The moment is unfortunate, but with all this movement, it boosts and accelerates the entire process of regulating sports betting in Brazil.
And is it a good time to also show society that both sports betting houses and sport itself are the main victims?
Perfect. The discussion we are having is very opportune to make clarifications for the general public, who sometimes do not clearly understand that the bookmaker is the biggest victim, including the financial victim, because it is the one who takes the loss when there is fraud in regarding the result.
Clubs are also major victims because they lose in sports performance due to the conduct of one athlete or another. And the concern is also about the spectator, because without him, we don't have the show and the industry that surrounds this environment.
Changing the industry a bit, as legal director of Rei do Pitaco, how is the adjustment process in the regulatory framework for the fantasy game sector going?
We are in a challenging time. The Bill that regulates the activity was approved in the Chamber of Deputies, but has not advanced much in the Senate. It is on the CAE – Economic Affairs Commission. Now there is talk of creating a specific tax on games, which makes the market very concerned because this is an industry of small companies in Brazil, which do not need a higher tax burden.
They need incentives or that there are no barriers, whether fiscal or regulatory, that prevent them from growing. Listening to these news, it seems a contradiction, since Brazil, which seeks so much to encourage the development of technology and which routinely loses skilled labor abroad, by making a move to overtax the games sector instead of investing and promoting technology in Brazil, makes a reverse movement, which inhibits this activity.
There is a large government tax appetite for the entertainment sector – sports betting, games and fantasy. Isn't it time for the government to look more closely at entertainment as a leisure time that shouldn't be surcharged?
When we look at entertainment, it's leisure and culture. One thing pulls another. Entertainment such as fantasy and even sports betting, foment the sports industry and generate momentum. Taxation is necessary and no one denies it.
Everyone who works in the sector (betting, fantasy and games in general) is clear about the need to contribute socially to the government, but this appetite for revenue must be moderate. If it is exacerbated and exceeds certain limits – and we are very close to that in Brazil – business activities will start to be inhibited instead of encouraged.
Source: Exclusive GMB
