Reaffirming its position as the country that attracts the most attention in the global gaming market, Brazil was the center of attention at the SBC Summit Barcelona this Tuesday (19), in a round table that brought together important market players, including investors, owners of platforms and directors of entities in the sector.
Present at the conversation, among others, was José Francisco Manssur, special advisor to the Ministry of Finance and responsible for leading the process of regulating sports betting in Brazil.
And, also as expected, once again the Finance authority was alerted to the sector's concerns regarding the viability of establishing a really strong market in view of the high tax rate, high cost of grants, short license validity period and the application of 30% income tax on the player.
The discussion revolved around these themes, and what Manssur said is that perhaps license applications will begin to come into effect from January next year, not as a promise, but as an objective of the Ministry of Finance.
Much of the conversation revolved around the taxation of bettors and the Finance advisor was warned about the possibility of them moving away from the regulated market, based on the operators present.
Manssur was adamant in saying that the government has tools to prevent operators who do not have a license from operating in Brazil. But the industry itself has its doubts regarding this capacity, in addition to which professional gamblers especially may seek access options such as through VPNs and other tools to circumvent the concern.
This possibility worries the sector, which prefers a well-regulated market with clear rules and feasible requirements and in line with the best international practices, so that they can act with legal certainty and with plenty of reasons to develop the great potential of the activity in Brazil.
Those present demonstrate to the Finance advisor their willingness to contribute more information about the activity, in an attempt to reverse some themes of the bill approved in the Chamber of Deputies.
Some were even emphatic in saying that, under the current conditions presented by the Bill, it will be very difficult to channel bettors into the formal market and that not all current players operating in Brazil will continue to operate in the country in the face of regulations that are “totally out of touch with reality of the market”, as one of those present said.
The global market is very attentive to all this movement and has shown its concern that the government needs to lead the regulatory process, in its next steps, to conditions that are truly attractive to serious operators and that guarantee that bettors are interested in continuing using serious sites when betting.
Source: GMB
