In addition to the list of regularized bets (virtual betting companies), which should be published this Tuesday (1st), the government may bring forward the list of irregular companies, said Finance Minister Fernando Haddad this evening. The minister made the recommendation to the Secretary of Prizes and Betting, Regis Dudena.
“The secretary [Dudena] is considering the possibility of releasing the list [negativa] eventually rejecting some requests that do not meet the requirements of the notice”, said Haddad upon leaving the ministry. According to the minister, anticipating the rejection will help the government gain time to “clean up” irregularities in the online betting sector.
The negative list will include companies that requested authorization by this Monday (30th), the last day of the deadline, but were excluded for not complying with legal requirements, such as presenting documents or proving technical capacity. According to the Bet Management System (Sigap) of the Ministry of Finance, 180 companies presented 185 requests, of which 31 were filed yesterday.
Sigap provides the company’s registered name, not the website’s trademark, which often makes it difficult to consult legal websites. Until October 10, websites that did not request authorization remain online. This is because the government granted a period of ten days for bettors to withdraw their money from these pages.
From October 11th, the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) will block illegal pages. According to Haddad, up to 600 pages access will be blocked.
According to Haddad, preparing the list of irregular companies is more difficult and time-consuming than that of authorized companies because any refusal to operate must have legal justifications. Regarding the removal of the pages from the air, the minister said that the Treasury will routinely send Anatel the list of companies that fail to comply with the rules.
Advertising regulation
This afternoon, Haddad and Dudena met with representatives from the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (Abert), the International Broadcasting Association (AIR) and the National Advertising Self-Regulation Council (Conar), to discuss the regulation of advertising in houses of betting.
Upon leaving the meeting, the president of Conar, Sergio Pompilio, said that betting regulation will allow “separating the wheat from the chaff” and that Brazilian rules will be an example for the world. Regarding advertising, the executive stated that the council, a private entity that self-regulates advertising in the country, already establishes strict rules for betting house advertisements. What was missing until now, according to him, was Treasury regulation.
“Conar’s self-regulation principles are already part of the annex that deals with advertising and, consequently, they are already valid today, regardless of authorization. Now, this step that the government took to authorize companies to actually separate the wheat from the chaff, this is fundamental,” said Pompilio.
The president of Abert, Flávio Lara Rezende, assured that broadcasters will not broadcast advertising from any unauthorized betting house. “We have followed self-determination through Conar since the first moment we started broadcasting advertising about bets. We will continue to strictly comply with what Conar and the Ministry of Finance itself have been determining in this regard”, he declared.
