The guest of this Thursday's (10th) JR Entrevista was the president of the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), Wesley Cardia. To journalist Thiago Nolasco, he said that Brazil is the country with the highest growth in sports betting in the world. “The Brazilian is a gambler, the Brazilian likes it. Brazilians know football, they like to bet on the result. So this is part of the country’s culture and Brazilians have always been gamblers since the more than 100 years of the jogo do bicho, for example.”
According to him, “this growth tends to grow even more in the coming years. But today, nobody even knows the size of the market, nobody knows how much is bet in Brazil, precisely because of this, there is no way to measure it, because there is no payment of taxes”, he concludes.
Cardia stated that the sector wants to regularize itself and pay taxes. “There are hundreds or even thousands of companies that do not want to seek licenses to continue not paying taxes. But the big and serious companies do want to work according to the law.”
What Cardia highlighted is the high tax burden. “In addition to the 18% on the GGR to be applied to the sector, there are taxes that any company pays. This brings the tax to 35.5%. The tax at this level makes the operation unfeasible, as it is too high and increases illegal gambling. What happens in Portugal can also happen here, where the high tax has led many companies to the illegal market and those that operate legally lose market to those that do not pay taxes,” he exemplified.
According to Cardia, a maximum tax burden of 26% to 28% would be more appropriate and would not make the activity unfeasible.
Asked about the CPI that investigates match-fixing, he again highlighted that “the two most affected by the practice are the bookmakers and the bettor. The bookmaker for having to pay prizes on an illegal bet. And the gambler, who made his bet believing in a reasonable result and was surprised by a result manipulated by gangs.”
He made it clear that “it is fundamental that the regulations create systems – already foreseen – so that all bookmakers are on a platform and the attack against one or more is perceived by all, preventing manipulation from happening,” he defended.
Regarding the ban on betting on individual actions, such as corners and bookings, among others, Cardia stated that “studies show that in Europe manipulation occurs in the final result of a tennis, football or basketball game. If this type of bet is prevented from being made in Brazil, illegal gambling will win, as people will continue to place bets on illegal sites.”
The sector, according to ANJL’s president, is very attentive to the direction of regulation and is seeking self-regulation of advertising, to avoid abuses in the form of communication with its public, as well as guide customers regarding responsible gambling.
“We have all the responsibility and we have adopted the best international practices so that sports betting is a serious and transparent economic activity,” he concluded.
Source: GMB
