Recently, the main football teams in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo issued a joint statement regarding the provisional measure that should formalize the regulation and taxation of sports betting in Brazil. The note was signed by the following clubs: São Paulo, Palmeiras, Corinthians, Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco, Botafogo and Santos.
The issue at the moment is that three of these teams have debts that reach R$ 64 million with the Union. In the last few days, the list of clubs and amounts owed were published on the Metrópoles portal, in Guilherme Amado’s column.
Check out the full article below that portrays the situation in detail and highlights the importance of sports betting in national football.
Clubs that criticized betting taxation owe BRL 64 million to the Union
Three major football clubs in the country that complained about the federal government’s proposal to tax sports betting add up to BRL 64 million in debt to the Union. The eight main teams on the Rio-São Paulo axis expressed “concern” with the negotiations last Tuesday (4/3).
The clubs claimed “risk of collapse of the activity” with the taxation of betting companies. Among them are Vasco, who owes R$ 51 million to the Union; Palmeiras, with R$ 10 million; and Botafogo, with R$ 3 million in debt.
Records of the Union’s active debt, maintained by the Attorney General’s Office of the National Treasury, indicate that Vasco owes R$ 36 million in FGTS payments and another R$ 15 million in federal taxes. Palmeiras owes R$9.5 million in overdue FGTS transfers, in addition to R$400,000 in federal taxes. Botafogo, in turn, owes R$ 3 million in federal taxes to the Union.
An overwhelming share of the big Brazilian football teams are sponsored by sports betting sites, which are not yet regulated in the country. This happens in 19 of the 20 first division clubs.
The Ministry of Finance expects to present a provisional measure later this month to set rules and tax this market. Minister Fernando Haddad predicts an increase in public revenue of between R$ 12 billion and R$ 15 billion a year.
