The acting president, Geraldo Alckmin, is expected to deliver, later this week, requests from retail and industry associations regarding online betting companies to four ministries.
Alckmin, who is also vice-president and minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (MDIC), met with sector representatives at the BNDES headquarters, in São Paulo, this Tuesday (24). He committed to taking this matter to other ministers.
Geraldo Alckmin’s expectations for online betting
The president of the Retail Development Institute, Jorge Gonçalves, said that the “Proposal for the Nation” group should include the creation of 15 entities that signed the manifesto for the regulation of advertising and sponsorships of online betting sites.
It was also requested to prevent the use of credit cards to pay for bets. Geraldo Alckmin was interested in the themes raised by Gonçalves, commenting that the points raised were “coherent”.
As recently reported, the economic team suggested the creation of an interministerial group to deal with sports betting, but the plan was not implemented.
The Ministry of Treasury states, in a note, that this group is in the “construction” process. One of the topics discussed by representatives of industry and commerce with Alckmin is the taxation of these companies.
The proposed law requires online betting companies to pay a 12% tax on their gaming revenue, discounting the prize money given to bettors, called GGR (gross gaming revenue).
Advertising rules and addiction prevention
At the end of July, the Treasury published a law with rules to prevent and prohibit abusive advertising. Furthermore, betting companies must take measures to combat addiction, including, among other things, the suspension of players who present a “high risk of addiction”.
However, there are no specific criteria for this classification, which will depend on each company. Today there is a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC), still in the signing period, which equates sports betting to alcohol, tobacco, pesticides and medicines.
This PEC prohibits the disclosure of business information and contains requirements warning about the danger. However, these associations consider that the deadline for implementation will not keep up with the speed of growth of the game in the country.
The group calls for the immediate suspension of payment for bets by credit card or other similar methods. The new betting market regulations will prohibit the use of credit cards, but this change will only come into force in January 2025.
The director of development and competitive intelligence at the Brazilian Textile and Clothing Industry Association (Abit), Oliver Tan Oh was also present at the meeting. He said the government needs to hurry to stop credit card payments and other types of payments that leave consumers in debt.
