“This is not a response from the betting market to criticism from other sectors. Payment by card is almost nonexistent in the industry,” said ANJL president Plínio Lemos Jorge in a statement. “Therefore, we are reinforcing a practice that was already widely disseminated by bets themselves, which is to offer players Pix.”
According to ANJL, credit cards are used for less than 3% of all bets made on associated platforms. Jorge highlights that the directive to ban the use of cards had already been discussed in meetings with the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA), of the Ministry of Finance.
The economic team was studying the publication of a new ordinance to anticipate the ban on cards; however, given the signals from bets, it believes that the measure may not be necessary.
Launched in March 2023, ANJL's associates include galera.bet/PlayTech, Big Brazil, F12, PagBet, BetNacional, Mr. Jack, Parimatch, BetFast, Aposta Ganha, Liderança Capitalização, ZRO Bank, Propane, PAAG, Clear Sale, BetBox tv, StarsPay, WEpayments, 1xBet and PG Soft.
The immediate ban on the use of credit cards for betting has been advocated by the president of the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban), Isaac Sidney – for whom online gambling has assumed “gigantic and alarming” proportions. One of the concerns is the increase in defaults, facilitated by this payment method.
According to the Finance's ordinance, bettors will only be able to place bets using instant payment methods, such as Pix, TED, debit card or prepaid card.
Pix is the predominant method for placing bets. A study by the Central Bank (BC) released this Tuesday, the 23rd, estimates that the monthly volume of transfers via Pix from individuals to online betting companies varied between R$18 billion (US$ 3.3bn) and R$21 billion (US$ 3.85bn) from January to August.
The BC estimates that around 24 million people participated in games of chance and bets during the period. The survey also revealed that, in August, 5 million people from families receiving Bolsa Família benefits sent R$3 billion (US$ 550m) via Pix to betting platforms.
This Wednesday (25), the Finance Minister, Fernando Haddad, reinforced that a type of CPF monitoring will be implemented. “We will be able to have an alert system for people who are revealing a certain psychological dependence on gambling,” he said during a conference at Banco Safra.
Also this week, the executive secretary of Finance, Dario Durigan, stated that the government is concerned about the high level of family income being compromised by gambling on betting platforms.
“Finance is so concerned that it is part of the regulation – already issued by us, Finance – that companies that have authorization from the Treasury must share information to control debt by CPF,” said Durigan.
Source: Estadão
