In the coming days, congressmen will decide on vetoes on the paragraphs of article 31 of Law 14,790/2023. ANJL warns that maintaining these vetoes, in addition to violating the constitutional concept of income, has the potential to encourage the migration of bettors to the illegal market, as it determines:
IR is collected for each premium paid, instead of the annual payment;
Tax will be charged on prizes of any value, including those of R$20, R$100, R$500 (US$ 4, US$ 20, US$ 100)
The combination of these factors practically nullifies the effectiveness of federal regulation of the sector, because bettors may migrate to unregulated sites, which will certainly not comply with positive legislation.
“We are facing a decisive moment for the embryonic sports betting and online gaming market in Brazil. By maintaining these vetoes, we run a serious risk of having a setback even before the regulation is completed. Maintaining these vetoes will harm everyone involved, except the illegal market, which will gain a wave of gamblers fleeing this mistaken taxation,” says the president of ANJL, Plínio Lemos Jorge.
Brazil must follow the international model
ANJL highlights that, with the exception of Greece, no European country specifically taxes bettors' prizes. Spain, in fact, expressly adopts the model chosen by the Brazilian legislator, of taxation on the annual declaration of income above a certain exemption range.
Looking at the international experience, any attempt to impose excessive tax burdens, notably with the aim of increasing government revenue, always leads to different results, reducing the total to be collected by the flight of gamblers to the informal market.
With the potential migration to irregular sites, another impact will be on the Union's revenue expectation, which will be frustrated by the drop in the number of bets in the regulated environment. Consequently, the volume of resources expected for areas such as health, education and public security will also be reduced.
ANJL therefore advocates that Congress maintain what it itself approved at the end of last year, that is, the annual collection of Income Tax on bettors' net prizes and its incidence only on amounts that exceed the exemption range of IR.
To learn more about the #SeuVotomudaoJogo campaign and the ANJL's Technical Notes (complete and summarized) on the vetoes and their impacts on the sector and the country, simply click here.
Launched in March 2023, the National Association of Games and Lotteries defends the interests of its members, the sector and responsible and honest gaming, always guided by encouraging sport, betting security and contributing to the country's economic development.
Members include galera.bet/PlayTech, Kaizen, Betano, Big Brasil, Hebara, F12, PagBet, Betnacional, Mr.Jack, Parimatch, BetFast, Aposta Ganha, Liderança Capitalização, ZRO Bank, OKTO, Propane and Paag.
Source GMB
