President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated this Thursday (17) that he could end the market for digital sports betting platforms, the so-called bets, if regulation is not sufficient to ensure the mental and financial health of the population. Lula gave an interview to Rádio Metrópole, in Salvador, where he has a schedule.
“I had a meeting with 14 ministries so we could discuss the issue of betting and we had an option, either it would end definitively or we would regulate it. We opted for regulation, and it seems to me that this week more than 2 thousand bets have already gone out of circulation”, said the president.
“We’ll see if regulation can handle it. If the regulation handles it, the problem will be solved, if it doesn’t handle it, I’m done, it’s very clear. Because you don’t have control over the humblest people, children with a cell phone in their hand making bets, we don’t want that”, stated the president.
Online betting sites and applications that were not authorized by the government were taken offline on the 11th, in a joint action by the Ministry of Finance and the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel). More than 2 thousand illegal betting sites involved in fraud and scams were blocked.
To date, 98 companies with 215 bets are able to operate in Brazil until Decemberaccording to the Prizes and Betting Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance. The state lists have 26 companies authorized to operate as they comply with the rules of the Ministry of Finance’s ordinance.
At the end of the year, the Ministry of Finance must complete the definitive analysis of the first requests for authorization from companies to verify which ones comply with the laws and the rules for sports betting and online gaming. Companies will have to pay R$30 million to the Union to operate from January 1, 2025. It is on this date that the regulated betting market in Brazil begins to operate.
A law voted in the National Congress and sanctioned by President Lula in December 2023 established that it is up to the Ministry of Finance to authorize the exploration of betting and set conditions and deadlines for adapting companies in the sector.
In total, the government has already issued ten ordinances to regulate betting operations. They deal, among other issues, with fair gaming, certification, financial issues, mandatory use of the financial system, prohibition of credit cards, protection of bettors in relation to minors, dependent people, advertising issues and the issue of procedures.
Platforms will have to follow all rules to combat fraud, money laundering and abusive advertising. According to the ministry, the regulation of the operation of bets also will require operators to register players’ CPF. The objective of the measure is to enable the monitoring the history of retirees to ensure your mental and financial health.
Public health
On October 4th, the President Lula held a ministerial meeting to discuss measures to reduce the impacts of betting in cases of addiction and debt and warned the population about the danger of gaming addiction.
“There are a lot of people getting into debt, there are a lot of people spending what they don’t have. And we think this has to be treated as a dependency issue. In other words, people are dependent, people are addicted”, highlighted Lula, according to a note released by the Presidency after the meeting.
Other The federal government’s concern is with Bolsa Família beneficiaries who use the value of the benefit to place bets. Restriction measures aimed at this public are also under analysis.
Brazilians’ spending on online platforms Online betting will be measured by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in the Family Budget Survey (POF) 2024/2025, which goes into the field from November 5th.
Second data from the Locomotiva Institute25 million people started placing sports bets on electronic platforms from January to July this year, betting R$52 million.
The institute also found that 86% of people who bet have debts and that 64% are negative at Serasa. Of the universe of indebted and defaulting people in Brazil, 31% play in bets.
