During his trip to New York, President Lula expressed indignation to aides when he came across the news of the impact of bets on the accounts of the poorest population and high debt rates. Lula demanded that his government urgently enact measures to reverse this scenario.
The Minister of Social Development, Wellington Dias, said that Lula requested "urgent measures" on the issue. The ministry is responsible for the program.
"The president defends that Bolsa Família is for food and basic needs of each beneficiary family. He called for urgent measures," said Dias. The Bolsa Família card, which can be used for debit purchases and other transactions, such as withdrawing the benefit, should be banned for betting.
"The regulation of betting, coordinated by the Ministry of Finance and the Civil House, should contain a rule with a zero limit for the social benefit card for games and control based on the CPF of the player."
Monitoring by CPF is provided for in the regulation of the sector in Brazil. "You will have CPF by CPF of the person who is betting, everything confidential, but he will open this account. We will be able to have an alert system in relation to people who are revealing a certain psychological dependence on gambling," detailed the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, this Wednesday (25).
The head of the Executive became aware of the situation through the technical note made by the Central Bank, which indicated spending of R$3 billion (US$ 550m) on bets by Bolsa Família beneficiaries only via Pix and in the month of August.
Lula expressed concern to interlocutors about the impact on people in vulnerable situations, including teenagers and young people.
Almost a third (30%) of Brazilians aged 16 to 24 said they had already gambled, according to a Datafolha survey published in January of this year. The percentage among young people is double the average of 15% for the entire country.
The so-called ‘Bets’ have been legal in the country since 2018, after a law passed during the Michel Temer (MDB) government. The government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) should have regulated the market, but did not do so during his four years in office - during this period, betting has grown enormously, without rules or supervision.
Source: Folha
