The government of President Jair Bolsonaro has until December 12 of this year to finalize the process of regularizing sports betting in Brazil, according to the law enacted by then President Michel Temer on December 12, 2018.
Law number 13,756 requires the Ministry of Finance (currently the Ministry of Economy) to promote the regulation of the fixed-odds lottery within a time limit of four years.
According to an article on the Metrópoles website, the provisional measure (MP) that would address the matter was ready to be sent to the National Congress, however it was postponed after a request made by Deputy Marco Feliciano directly to Bolsonaro.
One of the main names of the evangelical bench in Congress, Feliciano reinforced that he is against the regulation of the betting market due to religious issues.
Brazilian sports betting market numbers
Today, the Federal Government estimates that more than 500 bookmakers are operating in Brazil. In addition, these groups are already making considerable investments in national sport, especially in football. In the two main divisions of the Brazilian Championship this year, most clubs have partnerships with betting companies.
It should be noted that the competitions themselves receive support from this segment, which can be seen with each game broadcast on TV on advertising boards around the fields or in commercial advertisements shown on open and/or closed channels.
Last year, the sports betting sector moved approximately R$ 7 billion in Brazil. The forecast is that this amount may increase even more with the regulation, reaching between R$ 20 billion and R$ 100 billion.
With the proper regulation of this market in Brazil, the government would also benefit from the increase in the collection of taxes and fees that would be used to boost the country’s development, similar to what is already happening with resources from lottery services.
