"It is a positive action. As we recently saw in discussions between the Ministry of Finance and Loterj, the state lottery of Rio de Janeiro which, due to the lack of a regulatory framework, decided to expand territorial jurisdiction over the matter, which meant that operators eventually registered in that jurisdiction could offer fixed odds betting services throughout the national territory and, thus, increase their revenue expectations," says César Garcia, CEO of OneKey Payments.
The executive says that the regulatory ordinance not only reinforces the competence of the Prizes and Betting Secretariat in choosing priority topics for regulation, but also brings legal certainty to all operators and other participants in the sports betting market.
The expert refers to news that the Ministry of Finance has notified that it may go to court against Loterj (Rio de Janeiro State Lottery) for allowing sports websites, accredited at the state level, to accept customers from all over Brazil.
In practice, currently, Loterj makes regularization in Rio de Janeiro more attractive for companies in the sector, who would pay only R$5 million (US$ 1m) in grant fees in the state, instead of the R$30 million (US$ 6m) requested by the Federal Government, following the regulation signed by President Lula at the end of 2023.
The Federal Government fears that, if Loterj's action is successful, there will be a tax war to offer more attractive conditions to companies. In this case, the expectation of revenue from the sports betting segment would be doomed to failure.
“With permission to operate throughout the national territory, companies regulated in Rio de Janeiro would have the same advantages as those regulated at the federal level. And they would not have the burden of higher fees and taxes required by the legislation approved by the Chamber to be paid to the Union,” analyzes César Garcia.
With long-standing experience in activities in the foreign exchange and international payments market and a financial regulatory lawyer, César Garcia, CEO of OneKey Payments, speaks with authority on the subject. Currently, in addition to running one of the most prestigious companies in the gaming and sports betting sector with payment solutions, he is a permanent member of the Board of Directors and interface with the Central Bank of Brazil and other regulatory agents.
OneKey Payments is an IP specialist in payments technology licensed by Bacen, offering a complete BaaS (‘banking as a service’) that allows companies to scale their inbound and outbound transactions in a simple and secure way, with total performance optimization.
The company presents a complete international gateway solution with easy plug and play integration and payment solutions in Brazil and around the world using PIX, bank slip or credit card.
Source: GMB
