MP for regulation of sports betting should be released by early April

The MP for sports betting regulation in Brazil is almost finalized by the Ministry of Economy and should be launched in early April, after President Lula’s visit to China. The Minister of Economy, Fernando Haddad, is part of the Brazilian delegation.

Last Tuesday (14th), Haddad met with representatives of the betting sector to hear their suggestions and request information about the Brazilian market. The government has not yet decided what the fee will be charged to both betting companies and punters. However, the license fee for a company to operate in Brazil will be R$30 million for a period of five years.

“There are still uncertainties about how to collect [taxes]. We explain our point of view, how it works in most countries, so that they understand that there are ways that raise the stakes and others that lower it. The more bets there are, the better it will be for everyone”, said Wesley Cardia, CEO of the newly created National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), who was present at the meeting.

Representatives from several betting companies attended the meeting, including Alexandre Fonseca, Júlio Iglesias Hernando and Ioannis Spanoudakis from Betano, Roberto Campos Marinho Filho from Conta Zap and Zap Bets, Bernardo Freire from Betnacional, Saul Valt and Marcos Sabiá from Galera.bet, José André da Rocha Neto from Vai de Bet and Marcelo Moreira Seiroz from F12.

On behalf of the Ministry, the meeting was attended by José Francisco Manssur, special advisor to the executive secretary of the portfolio, who is responsible for the matter.

The inertia in regulating the sector

Betting industry executives are generally optimistic about the prospect of the regulation finally taking place, which has been expected since 2018, when law 13,756 was passed, which allowed so-called fixed odds betting in Brazil. According to the law, the deadline for establishing the regulation of the sector would end in December 2022, still during the government of Jair Bolsonaro. However, nothing was done.

“Galera.bet, since the beginning, has positioned itself in favor of the regularization of sports betting in Brazil and is doing everything in its power to advance the measure. It also advocates for the market developed under the principles of responsible gaming, in addition to having an area dedicated exclusively to integrity and compliance issues”, said Marcos Sabiá, CEO of Galera.bet, one of the executives present at the meeting.

Sports betting market numbers

According to market sources, the betting branch already generates a movement of R$ 150 billion in Brazil. Of this amount, companies allocate around R$ 3 billion for investments in sponsorships and marketing.

During the meeting, the Ministry of Economy asked participants to provide more accurate information about the current sports betting market in Brazil. Representatives of bookmakers and representative entities in the area undertook to collect this data. However, a deadline for this information to be delivered to the Ministry has not yet been defined.

Industry statistics

It is challenging to make an accurate estimate of the number of betting platforms that are operating in the domestic market, as currently all companies in the sector operate from abroad, accepting bets from Brazilians.

According to a survey carried out recently, which considered only sports betting platforms with a Brazilian Portuguese version, there are at least 190 companies. This number, which increases daily, is probably higher. Platforms that offer other types of gambling, such as casino, bingo or online raffles, were not included in this research.

Depending on the source and the criteria adopted, the total number of sites operating in the country may be between 400 and 500 – a number that should increase with the launch of the MP focused on the sports betting regulation.