It will be up to the Secretariat linked to the Ministry of Finance to improve government actions, with special attention to the process of regulating the fixed-odd betting market, which covers sports betting and online gaming, and also to fulfill the legal duties of the Ministry of Finance about lotteries and commercial promotions.
The new Secretariat will also carry out actions to monitor and prevent money laundering, as well as market monitoring, aiming, among other points, at establishing responsible gambling policies to prevent compulsive or pathological gambling disorder, for prevention and not induction into debt and to protect vulnerable people, especially minors, in addition to monitoring and supervising communication, advertising and marketing actions, among other duties provided for in Law No. 14,790, of 2023.
The new Secretariat of Prizes and Bets will have three sub-secretariats under its supervision that will work to serve the betting segment: Authorization Sub-Secretariat, Monitoring and Inspection Sub-Secretariat and Sanctioning Action Sub-Secretariat. In total, 38 new positions were created to serve the Secretariat.
The Secretariat will be responsible for the entire process involving the operation of sports betting, from requesting a license to monitoring and applying penalties to operators who do not comply with all the rules that will be defined in ordinances that are about to be issued by the government and Ministry of Finance.
Decree 11,907/2024, regarding the sports betting sector, defines the following organizational structure within the Ministry of Finance:
“g) Secretariat of Prizes and Bets:
1. Authorization Subsecretariat;
2. Undersecretariat for Monitoring and Inspection; It is
3. Undersecretariat for Sanctioning Action”
Regarding the duties of the Secretariat and the Sub-Secretariats linked to it, the decree points out:
“Art. 56. The Authorization Subsecretariat is responsible for:
I - analyze authorization requests:
a) free distribution of prizes, through a draw, gift certificate, contest, or similar operation, as advertising or carried out by civil society organizations;
b) attracting popular savings;
c) at the federal level, for the exploration of fixed-odd betting and other lottery modalities; and
d) sweepstakes and lotteries carried out by horse racing promoters;
II - support, through studies and technical analyses, the formulation of standards related to fixed-odd betting and other lottery modalities; and
III - propose the criteria for granting authorizations issued by the Secretariat.
Quanto às atribuições da Secretaria e das Subscretarias a ela vinculadas, o decreto aponta:
Art. 57. The Subsecretariat for Monitoring and Inspection is responsible for:
I - supervise and develop inspection actions relating to:
a) commercial promotions and other promotional campaigns dedicated to the free distribution of prizes, as advertising or carried out by civil society organizations, through a draw, gift voucher, contest, or similar operation, and to capture popular savings;
b) the operation of fixed-odd betting and other lottery modalities; and
c) sweepstakes and lotteries carried out by horse racing promoters;
II - monitor compliance with regulations related to corruption, money laundering and other crimes, in the context of sports betting, other lottery modalities defined by law, commercial promotions and early capture of popular savings;
III - define the technical requirements of the systems to be observed by authorized entities;
IV - provide betting monitoring and commercial promotion systems and other information technology solutions necessary for the development of the Secretariat's activities;
V - monitor the correct collection of federal taxes owed by operators and bettors, and transfers to legal recipients;
VI- monitor compliance with rules and regulations relating to the rights of bettors and other regulations related to topics within the Secretariat’s competence;
VII - propose, based on inspection activities, corrective measures, adjustments and improvements to regulations related to the Secretariat's themes;
VIII - analyze the accounting of commercial promotions and other promotional campaigns subject to administrative processes authorizing the free distribution of prizes, as advertising or carried out by civil society organizations, through a draw, gift voucher, contest, or similar operation, and attracting popular savings; and
IX - initiate, instruct and analyze the administrative sanctioning process to investigate irregularities and propose to the Subsecretariat for Sanctioning Action the application of administrative sanctions or the archiving of the process.
Art. 58. The Subsecretariat for Sanctioning Action is responsible for:
I - judge administrative sanctioning processes, in the first instance, observing the legal and infra-legal limits and powers provided, requests for reconsideration and requests for review formulated in these processes;
II - decide, with reason, to apply administrative sanctions or close the case, when the irregularity has not been identified;
III - carry out the judgment on the admissibility of the resources and instruct the files for submission to the higher authority; and
IV - propose the signing of a term of commitment, in accordance with the law, at any stage of the administrative process until the first instance decision is taken.
All work to be carried out by the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets will be carried out in conjunction with the Ministry of Sports, a department that has received responsibilities relating to sporting integrity, in particular the monitoring of manipulation of results in sporting events, in addition to responsibilities relating to transfers intended to athletes, clubs and sports administration entities.
From now on, with the official creation of the Secretariat and its Sub-Secretariats, the publication of the first regulations and ordinances to open the process of requesting licenses by operators, as well as other disciplinary measures, is expected in the coming days.
Source: GMB
