Brazil Opens a Round of Public Consultations on Regulation of Sports Betting

Public consultations that will last a full month have commenced by the Brazilian Ministry of the Economy and during them, sports betting regulation in this country will be discussed. The country’s lawmakers are working on creating a legal framework for this vertical.

The talks began on July 30th and will end on August 31st. Public and industry stakeholders are asked to provide their take on the most appropriate model for Brazil’s sports betting market.

A Way For Brazil to Go Forward

A Division within Ministry’s Special Secretariat of Finance, Secretariat of Evaluation, Planning, Energy and Lottery will be conducting the consultations…

…and during these, respondents will be asked to give their views on questions like:

• whether a limited number of sportsbook licenses should be available for interested operators
• should the qualitative approach in which any company capable of fulfilling the conditions for license should be asked to .
• Regulatory regimes in other countries that could act as a direct inspiration for Brazil’s market
• views on market monitoring, control and enforcement process
• player safety, fraud prevention, market integrity, anti-money laundering

One Step at a Time

Former President, Michel Temer, has signed the Provisional Measure 846/18 into a law…

…giving lawmakers enough time to come up with a regulatory solution until 2020. This was the first big step towards the development of sports betting regulations. If progress is not made by then, a deadline could be extended by another two years.

Brazil’s government key aim with regulating sports betting is to channel the unregulated but massive market into legality. This would increase private enterprises’ activities by creating jobs, as well as securing the integrity of sports. There will also be input from Portugal, the UK and Italy regulators on how to develop the framework.

Alexandre Manoel, Secretary of Public Policy Evaluation, Planning, Energy and Lottery, said:

“What moved the Ministry to the [Senator Flexa Ribeiro, who introduced the bill] was to understand that this regulation contributes to the integrity of the sport, ensuring that the results of the games will be reliable and resulting from the effort of the athletes.”

Hotel Chains Want a Piece of Casino Pie

Brazil plans to boost its tourism prospects by establishing a future casino market with up to 32 integrated resorts. Numerous foreign operators have already expressed interest…

…but so have domestic hotel chains that clam they possess all the ideal amenities and infrastructure for hosting such facilities.

Brazilian Association of Resorts president, Alberto Cestrone, commented;

“While we understand casinos are important for the generation of employment and taxes, we ask the parliament to consider existing resorts as an ideal space for the installation of casinos. Resorts are a natural product to absorb such a venture. It does not need big investments and still has good gastronomy and structure already ready to make it work.”

Source:

“Brazil launches consultation on sports betting regulations”, igamingbusiness.com, August 1, 2019.