The passage of Bill 1.153/2019 July 6 by Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies both updates the rules that regulate sports and also raises questions on how much it will impact the betting sector. The Senate has yet to act on the bill.
Game Magazine Brasil interviewed attorney Udo Seckelmann, from Bichara e Motta about the law authored by Senator Veneziano Vital do Rêgo. Among its proposals, the law changes the operation of fixed-odds sports betting in Brazil.
One amendment earmarks 1 percent of operator’s gross gaming revenue to entities, such as the Brazilian Olympic Committee, that promote sports. Lawmakers said this was needed to make up for the loss of money from lotteries that traditionally go to such organizations.
Seckelmann told GMB: “Since 2019, I have been alert to the situation we currently find ourselves in: the longer the regulation of sports betting takes to come out, the greater the chance that the Legislature will increase taxation/transfers from operators. This is because betting operators are growing, attracting Brazilian bettors and investing considerable amounts in advertising in Brazil. If so much money circulates in this industry, why not raise the taxes they will collect in Brazil, right?”
This could work against the goal of absorbing unlicensed operators into the licensed market, he said. “If the burden of licensing in Brazil exceeds the bonus, operators will continue to explore the gray market – and public coffers will remain without collecting relevant figures.”
The article forbidding “Any form of publicity or advertising of companies, without a legal representative in Brazil, that explore bets related to real sports-themed events,” would be problematic when the country is transitioning from unlicensed to licensed operators. During that transition, “betting operators would not be able to advertise in Brazil and, at the same time, would not be able to license themselves.”
