Two betting sites began to use a seal manufactured with the logo of the federal government and the name of the Ministry of Finance without having requested permission from the department. A third claims to be licensed, although the public administration has not yet approved the concessions for 'Bets' (as the operators are called in Brazil) — the process depends on the payment of R$30 million (US$ 5.3m) to the Union.
The Finance states that companies cannot use institutional brands of the ministry and the federal government in their communications. The law aims to restrict the use of the government's credibility to obtain financial or symbolic gains and protect the image of the public administration. The Ministry says that the act is illegal and will be considered when analyzing the request to operate with bets; companies did not comment.
GeralBet did not respond to questions from Folha's report sent on the morning of Friday (11). Another bet removed the seal from the footer after Monday (14).
The seal can confuse the bettor, according to specialized lawyer Pedro Porcaro, since the rules created by the government for the sector are not yet in force.
"The bettor may think: I'm going to bet at this house here because I have zero risk of it being unauthorized," he exemplifies. This, he says, is not true.
Companies that pass the regulator's scrutiny must pay R$30 million (US$ 5.3m) to the government in November and receive an official response only in December. In addition, they will only be able to claim to be licensed in January 2025.
At the beginning of the month, the Ministry of Finance released a list, later updated, of 'Bets' that could continue operating in the country. This is a temporary authorization, until December of this year, during the analysis procedures for the granting.
The list of 'Bets' that can continue is made up of companies that requested authorization from the federal government until September 17th to operate betting sites in Brazil — and that also complied with bureaucratic requirements for registration.
The Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) of the Ministry of Finance will still analyze the regularity of each of these companies, with information about the legal qualification and technical qualification of the operators, to grant definitive authorization starting in 2025.
PuskasBet, a brand that claims to be already licensed in the footer text of its website, says that the message refers to the temporary authorization granted by the Treasury on the 1st.
"The use of the expression 'licensed' does not imply the use of the institutional brand of the Ministry of Finance or the federal government," says the company's risk manager, Manuela Mottin. bet also warns that it is in the process of adapting.
According to experts from the Demarest law firm, with the exception of companies that already have authorization issued by the competent state authorities, companies should avoid stating on their websites that they are already licensed. "This would be incorrect," the firm writes in a note.
The Penal Code defines the manufacture, falsification or alteration of a public seal or official acts of the Union as criminal offenses, with a sentence of two to six years in prison and a fine. "This applies to any brands, logos, acronyms or symbols," says Antônio Alves de Oliveira, a lawyer specializing in digital law.
A crime against trademark registration is also committed by anyone who reproduces a registered identity without the owner's authorization, or imitates it in a way that could induce confusion. Using images against the owner's will also constitutes a violation of the right to personality provided for in the Civil Code.
According to the department, the betting companies listed by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting, which can operate without a license until the regulated market begins in 2025, signed a statement of responsibility and acknowledgement that the commission of illegal acts will be considered in the analysis of the request for authorization to commercially exploit fixed-odds betting (jargon for sports betting and electronic slot machines).
Source: Folha
