The Ministry of Finance is planning a significant change in the sports betting and online casino landscape in Brazil.
The proposal is to create a specific extension, the “.bet” domain, which would be exclusive to companies in the sector and would be before the “.br” in URLs.
Therefore, the idea behind this initiative is to facilitate the identification of legal platforms, helping users avoid scams and fraud.
But only authorized bookmakers would use the “.bet” extension, which would make it easier for bettors to identify regulated sites.
Specific domain for sports betting can avoid scams
Currently, domain management and responsibility for authorizing or not authorizing certain websites have not yet been defined.
However, the expectation is that a large part of these responsibilities will fall to the Ministry of Finance and the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets, which was recently created to centralize these functions.
The implementation of this new domain also involves the creation of workflows in partnership with other ministries and bodies, such as Justice, Sports, Health and the Federal Revenue, which will be responsible for collecting taxes.
But despite efforts to regulate the sector, there are still issues to be resolved, such as:
- Who will be responsible for managing the online bookmakers that will operate in Brazil
- How sector supervision will work in practice
Revenue projection exceeds R$3 billion
The interest in the sports betting and online casino market in Brazil is evident, with Treasury projections estimating revenue between R$3 billion and R$6 billion in 2024.
This economic potential has attracted giant companies from all over the world, which have already expressed interest in operating in the country.
Therefore, despite the positive projections, it is important to highlight that the regulation of the online sports betting sector provides for:
- A 12% tax on website revenue
- A rate of 15% on the value obtained from the bettors’ prizes
Therefore, this measure aims to guarantee the legality and transparency of operations, in addition to contributing to tax collection. However, the process regarding the regulation of online sports betting continues in the national territory.
According to Folha de São Paulo, Brazilians spent more than R$50 billion on betting during 2023. Datafolha research indicated that 15% of the Brazilian population says they bet or have already bet — mostly young people.
