The regulation of sports betting, which was once again debated by the Federal Government recently, is an essential step for the gambling industry in Brazil. By imposing specific rules on a hitherto uncertain sector, the government gives room for the development of a market that can generate billions in taxes.
In addition, the regulation serves to reassure and guarantee the rights of Brazilian consumers. In this way, bookmakers need to adjust to legal provisions, data protection, privacy and transparency, benefiting the player.
According to government data, between 450 and 500 companies currently operate in the betting sector in the country. However, these players cannot have official headquarters or host their platforms in the country. And this is one factor that hinders Brazil’s gigantic potential worldwide.
The global industry is closely following every advance in the Brazilian market and the formalization of sports betting regulation tends to boost various sectors of the national economy.
After all, the expectation is that the country will become a reference in the international market, attracting new investors, income and generating thousands of jobs.
Sports betting regulation is being prepared by the Ministry of Finance
It is worth mentioning that the current government plans to tax the sector of electronic betting on sports games in order to compensate losses with the changes in the Income Tax (IR) table, according to the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad.
“I will regulate. We readjusted the IR table, and this has a small loss, but it does. We are going to compensate with the taxation on these electronic games that do not pay taxes, but take a fortune from the country”, he said in an interview with UOL.
According to Haddad, the intention is to regulate this activity this March. “Gambling worldwide is taxed”, added the minister.
Haddad stressed that the Ministry of Finance is still finalizing estimates of how much it would be possible to collect from taxation from the regulation of sports betting, however, that would be ‘on the order of billions’ of reais. “Not many (billions), but some,” he concluded.
