The three fronts of the regulation of gambling and betting in Brazil

By Filipe Senna Goepfert*

The scenario of regulation of games and bets in Brazil has never been so heated and prosperous as in 2023.

The federal government, the National Congress, and initiatives from the industry are all participating in the work towards legalization and for better enjoyment of the benefits derived from this sector.

They complement each other on independent but coordinated fronts towards a common goal.

On the first front, in the National Congress, the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, said that one of the priority agendas this year is the vote on the substitute to the Bill 442 of 1991, known as the Regulatory Framework for Gaming in Brazil.

The bill intends to legalize and regulate games of chance, those popularly known as gambling, such as bingos, casinos, and gambling.

The debate over regulating gambling and betting in Brazil has never been so mature and ready to take off.

The approval of this bill represents an unprecedented and very promising advance for the gaming sector in Brazil.

The regulation of these activities presents notorious benefits, such as generating job vacancies, increasing the country’s economic development with low economic alternatives, creating protection parameters for players, strengthening the operational security of gaming providers, and, most importantly, increasing revenue for the State.

In 2022, the efforts made by the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira, had an effect.

The substitute to the Bill 442 was scheduled and approved in February of that year under the rapporteurs of Congressman Felipe Carreras, considered an “agenda holder” of the sector, i.e., a politician who focuses important debates on a particular matter.

The debate overcame historic moral prejudices about games of chance, almost all of them already rejected by the international experience in regulating games, as occurred in the United Kingdom or Nevada and Atlantic City, in the United States.

As for the federal government, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, stressed the development of a provisional measure to regulate fixed-quota betting, and sports betting, in compliance with the creation of the modality in 2018, with the publication of Federal Law 13,756.

The completion and presentation of the regulatory draft are expected after his trip to China in early April.

With the edition of the provisional measure, the possibility of sports betting operations by companies authorized by the Ministry of Finance and based in the national territory is expected.

The benefits of this move are the increase in tax collection with the taxation of the activity, the creation of operation supervision parameters, and the creation of responsible gaming rules for bettors in a growing and opportune market in Brazil.

The expectation is to remove the fixed-quota betting sector from a gray operational situation, with uncertainties for companies and bettors, and consolidate it as one of the largest markets in the world.

Finally, dealing with the third front, one should highlight the engagement of operators in the construction of the industry and favor the development of the gaming and betting activity in Brazil, with the creation of the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR) and the National Association of Gaming and Lotteries (ANJL), in which part of the most proeminent players in national territory participate.

The institutions created by the industry have as common goals the assistance to the government in the debate about the regulation of games of chance and bets and the contribution to the sector’s growth in the domestic market, with parameters and guidelines for security and reliability.

The industry’s movement is consistent, as it demonstrates that the gaming and betting sector of the 21st century has moved in an organized and engaged manner to dispel the prejudiced and obsolete historical perception that games are dishonest or a stronghold of organized crime, replicated in movies, books, series and soap operas.

It is currently an economic activity in which most operators are committed to quality standards amid an active competitive environment.

The self-regulation criteria imposed by the gaming and betting market itself are essential to the operator’s survival, and those who meet them are prepared for regulation (and regulation).

The debate on gaming and betting regulation in Brazil has never been so mature and ready to take off.

*Filipe Senna Goepfert is a lawyer specializing in Gaming Law, an LL.M. student at IDP, and Partner at Jantalia Advogados.

With information from Gazeta do Povo