Remittances from Brazilians to bookmakers abroad reached the mark of US$ 2.7 billion in the first quarter of this year, according to statistics released by the Central Bank within the balance of payments.
Of this total, around US$ 600 million refer to remuneration paid to foreign platforms. Around US$ 2.1 billion are sent abroad to compose the funds that are divided among the winners of the bets. The information is from Valor.
Bookmakers and Brazilian gamblers
About US$ 1.7 billion returned to Brazil in the form of transfers of prizes to the winners of these bets who live in the national territory. In reais, this total transfer of US$ 2.7 billion abroad corresponds to R$ 13.7 billion. Annual transfers can reach around US$ 11 billion (R$ 55 billion).
Since last January, balance of payments statistics have given an idea of the values. With the entry into force of the new foreign exchange law, the Central Bank began to demand that these values be informed, in the statistics, with a different code, which offers a closer idea of the values of these international bets.
Until the end of last year, these bets were recorded, for balance of payments statistics purposes, along with small purchases. Last year, these purchases totaled US$ 5.012 billion. This year, amounts carried over at bookmakers began to be accounted for in two different ways.
In an account, “cultural, personal and recreational services”, remittances are accounted for by way of remuneration of the companies that organize the bets. Other operations are registered in the same account, so it is impossible to know exactly the volume of remittances to bookmakers.
Values of remittances between the first quarter of 2022 and 2023
But you can get an idea of the values for the increase in remittances between the first quarter of 2022 and 2023. This corresponded to an increase of US$ 587 million between one period and another, jumping from US$ 79 million to US$ 666 million. A good part of this difference, of US$ 587 million, is explained by accounting for the remuneration of betting sites.
There was also an increase in the inflow of values from abroad under this heading, of US$ 104 million in the first quarter, which must be linked to the remuneration of Brazilian companies that provide betting services abroad.
The other account that accounts for betting flows is the “other transfers” item, which is among the so-called secondary income. In this account are the remittances abroad of the amount that will be shared among the winners of the bets. There are also other shipments that transit through this account.
But, due to the oscillation of flows between the first quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, it is possible to calculate how much was sent by Brazilians on betting sites.
From one period to the next, these values increased by US$ 2.129 billion, from US$ 195 million to US$ 2.320 billion. This means that Brazilians transferred around US$ 2.129 billion to the betting sites to form the pie that is shared among the winners.
On the other hand, around US$ 1.7 billion in prizes received by players who live in the country entered Brazil. Currently, Brazil has a deficit of around US$930 million in the first quarter on betting sites.
