This week, the federal government published provisional measure (MP) 1182/23, which regulates the operation of sports betting platforms in Brazil. The text includes the fees that companies will pay, the destinations of the collection and groups of people that will be prohibited from placing bets.
In addition, it provides for rules for advertising and for the marketing actions of the platforms: they will be prohibited from broadcasting sporting events and must follow regulatory rules.
Such regulation will be defined by Conar (National Advertising Self-Regulation Council). In June, the body signed an agreement with the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR) and the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) for the elaboration of a set of rules on the subject.
There is still no date for these rules to be published. Conar announced yesterday (July 27th) the creation of a working group, which will meet in the next few days, to begin the discussion of these self-regulation norms.
The group has the presence of 18 professionals from entities such as the IBJR and ANJL, in addition to the ABA (Brazilian Association of Advertisers), IAB Brasil (Interactive Advertising Bureau), Abert (Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters) and Aner (National Association of Magazine Editors).
To understand a little more about what can (and cannot) be done, UOL Mídia e Marketing spoke with José Francisco Manssur, special advisor to the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and one of those responsible for regulating sports betting in Brazil.
Marketing and publicity actions will be guided by the regulations of the Ministry of Finance, in a work carried out in partnership with Conar. Who will actually take care of it? Until then, can everything?
What we are doing now is regulating this activity, which has already been carried out in Brazil since 2018. From the publication of the ordinance, which still does not have a date to happen, companies will have 180 days to regularize.
Companies that are not accredited in Brazil will be carrying out an illegal activity and it is a natural consequence that we prohibit them from advertising in the media.
That's the first part. In addition, Conar's self-regulation will bring norms to place rules where, today, there are none. Today, you do whatever advertising you want, whenever you want, and convey the message you want.
We want to convey to the population a concept of "responsible gaming". With Conar, we are seeing the possibility for people to convey, as is conveyed in beer advertising, a final message: "Play with responsibility", "Play with moderation".
In addition, we will also have some basic regulations. We don't want advertising that says that if you bet, you'll get rich. A lot of people have this idea and bet madly.
Therefore, we are going to establish with Conar some self-regulatory norms. We know that Conar is highly effective, mainly because the market respects the rules.
We will also have the discussion that is brought to us by society, by the National Congress and by representative entities. We don't want to prohibit schedules, for example, but we can filter the message that is passed on at each moment of the day. About advertising, basically what I have today is this.
There are some criticisms of Conar for the agency's lack of speed in some cases, especially in digital media. How can the Ministry of Finance help with this, since this is not something new?
The path we are following, at this moment, is to respect Conar's internal procedures - also because it is not an entity that is subject to our interference.
If Conar understands that, in order to be more effective, it needs to improve some of its procedures, we will provide full support. But that, at that moment, will have to come from them.
But the Ministry can prohibit advertising, right?
It can. But, in the self-regulation system, Conar has its mechanisms, its tools for initiating proceedings and precautionary measures. Conar will use its code.
There will not be an order to change the process that already exists from here - not least because we have believed for a long time in the effectiveness of the Conar process.
Betting platforms and sites will also not be able to broadcast or finance broadcast of sports, is that right?
They will not be able to pay to broadcast. First, because this is a diversion of purpose. Second, so that the platforms do not act as intermediaries in the negotiation of broadcast rights. We have this concern that each one operates in their own area.
It is much more concerned with the message - and also a little influence on results. I think the issue of manipulation of results affects the image issue a lot. How much does this affect the credibility of the sports product?
So, to keep the idea in that credibility, it is important to have some more restrictive measures to avoid promiscuity, in quotes, in the relationship between the sporting event and the betting, the operating companies.
Does the acquisition of naming rights remain the same? Have you thought about somehow banning advertising?
To be continued. We do not see advertising limitations, as proposed here.
We will start from an initiative not to prohibit: first of all, we will inspect, use technology, use intelligence. I don't believe in the effectiveness of merely prohibitive measures, something like "take it off the front of the shirt, you can just put it on the back of the uniform."
Even because, that way, we would cause terrible damage, whether for the telecommunications market, sports channels or the clubs themselves. This is not our intention.
We don't want to block the big sponsor, the big sponsor of the sport. We talk about football, but this applies to all sports.
Our idea here at the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Sports is not to cause a rupture, at least at first. But the facts overlap. If we perceive that the facts show an opposite idea, we will always be open to re-discussing and rethinking the principles that we are adopting now.
Source: UOL Mídia e Marketing
