Since 2023, the sports betting market in Brazil has been undergoing regulation, and for José Francisco Manssur, lawyer and former special advisor to the Ministry of Finance, who was involved in the regulation of betting, this movement is essential. As a guest on CNN Esportes S/A this Sunday (13), Manssur explained the importance of this regulation.
“It was a process carried out throughout 2023. It's important to highlight that in 2018, a law was already passed allowing sports betting within the Brazilian legal system. [...] It’s also important to say that regulation gives the State the opportunity to create policies for each specific issue. Without regulation, companies wouldn’t even be in Brazil, and the sites wouldn’t be based in Brazil. So, if someone ran fraudulent or misleading advertising or targeted minors, which is not allowed, the government would have no way to control it,” he said.
Match-fixing
According to the lawyer, regulation can prevent a range of issues, such as match-fixing.
“With authorization and regulation, companies will have to report every bet happening in real-time at each authorized operator. This way, the government—in this case, the Ministry of Finance along with the Ministry of Sports—can monitor for any discrepancies.”
“When you identify an abnormal bet, for example, 500,000 reais on a yellow card in the Série B or in a state championship in Acre, that should raise a red flag—it’s a disproportionate amount. Then the artificial intelligence technology that these companies have today can step in to verify this behavior, cross-referencing data,” he explained.
“You create a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is the least suspicious and 5 is almost confirmation. When it hits level 3, you send a notice to all operators to remove that game from the betting options. This is how you work on prevention. If the issue persists, you send the data to the Public Prosecutor's Office or the Police, indicating that there is evidence of manipulation,” Manssur concluded, explaining the step-by-step process of how this operation should be handled in such cases.
Addiction and advertising
Another issue that has emerged with the rise of sports betting in Brazil is the increase in gambling addiction. According to José Francisco Manssur, addressing addiction was a key priority during the regulation process.
“This aspect of fighting addiction is a fundamental priority, and we can never neglect the fact that there are people who are becoming addicted. There are several tools within the legislation that I believe are essential. [...] First: advertising should never give bettors the idea that they will get rich by betting. You don’t get rich by betting,” he emphasized.
Manssur also pointed out that the regulation prohibits advertising targeted at children and includes provisions for psychological assistance and support from the public health system (SUS) when betting companies detect unusual behavior from any bettor.
Source: CNN
