Sports betting: for companies and clubs, regulation is positive

The regulation of sports betting in Brazil, through a Provisional Measure (MP) that will be edited by the Federal Government, is seen favorably by two important segments of the sector: companies in the field and football clubs. The perception is that in addition to developing the market in the country, the process will help in dealing with cases of manipulation of results. Government to edit provisional measure to regulate sports betting. The text focuses specifically on the regulation of fixed odds bets, known as the “bets” market. Check it out: https://t.co/512B5UgmlK.📷Fernando Torres/CBF © pic.twitter.com/SIucaNUzpZ — Agência Brasil (@agenciabrasil) May 11, 2023 Law 13.756, of December 12, 2018, released bets of fixed odds (the so-called bets) in the country. The deadline for regulation was two years, extendable for two more, but nothing happened. According to the special adviser to the Executive Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance, José Francisco Manssur, during a public hearing held in Brasília on April 12, the estimate is that R$ 6 billion has not been raised, per year, since 2018. every ten advertising boards [em uma partida de futebol], we see seven or eight of betting companies. These bets move a few billion reais in Brazil, but the government, society, has not collected a real for practically five years, because it is not regulated”, said Manssur. clubs have a betting operator as a sponsor – Cuiabá is the exception. The estimate is that this investment, last year, reached R$ 3 billion. To operate in the national market and continue to expose their brands, companies must be accredited and pay a grant of BRL 30 million. “The clubs are very anxious for the regulation of the betting sector. When I make, for example, a sponsorship contract between the club I represent and a company [do setor]ends up having a forum outside the national scenario, so, if I have a problem related to that, it is difficult for the club to seek its rights in a foreign legislation”, pointed out Danielle Maiolini, lawyer at Palmeiras and specialist in Sports Law and Betting at CSMV Advogados office. [com a regularização] will start betting on Brazil. Investments will be necessary, in structure, operations, finance, customer service and so on. The entire chain benefits from the formalization of the market. And we also have the benefit for Brazilians, of basically being served by operators that follow a series of rules, previously established and agreed upon, between public and private authorities”, analyzed Gelfi. Manipulation The expectation of companies and sports organizations is that the regulation increases the siege on cases of match-fixing. do Brasileiro 2022 and this year’s state championships. “Companies [regularizadas] generally have experience and interest in working in a coordinated way to combat match-fixing. The bookmakers themselves are, along with gamblers, the main losers [pelas fraudes], who are financially harmed when a sports result is manipulated”, highlighted Gelfi. “To monetize, clubs depend on the randomness of the result. The consumer does not want to see a game that he already knows how it will end. So, the more random the result, therefore, the less possibility that the consumer feels that the result is being manipulated, the more my product is worth. This is a common goal between clubs, CBF [Confederação Brasileira de Futebol] and operators. Therefore, a regulation that deals with this economic activity in Brazil needs to address this issue very rigorously”, added Maiolini. investigate cases of manipulation. The coordinator of the Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime (Gaeco) of the MP/GO, Rodney da Silva, however, stressed that the matter must go beyond the public sphere. of various sports, have existed for a long time, in the United States, in Europe, in all countries, but some compliance measures [conformidade em relação à lei e às regras] restrictions on this type of behavior have been taken. I think it would be time to discuss, nationwide, the need to invest – clubs and federations, for example – in compliance activity”, he declared, in a press conference on April 18. Taxation The Provisional Measure provides for taxation of 30% on the winnings of bettors, respecting the income tax exemption range. Companies, in turn, will be taxed at 16% of the GGR (acronym, in English, for Gross Gaming Revenue), which is the revenue obtained after payment of prizes. Of this amount, 2.55% will be allocated to the National Fund for Public Security (FNSP) for actions to combat manipulation and other fraud in the context of betting. Sports entities, in turn, will be entitled to 1 .63% of the transfer. This last percentage has been the subject of debate in recent weeks. “The big debate is whether this percentage [1,63%] remunerate enough for authorizing the use of the brand or whether, for the clubs – and this is a discussion they are having internally – it is better to choose not to authorize this use of the brand, therefore, not to receive the predetermined percentage, and to independent negotiation, directly with the operators”, explained the Palmeiras lawyer. The percentage also generated a statement from the CBF. to clubs and 20% to the confederation itself. The proposal found resistance from operators. In our mind, we are very close to this optimal point regarding the tax issue, so that the market develops in the best possible way. We reiterate that the Government has to be aware that going beyond this point could be harmful for the market and would make the parallel market viable”, justified the president of the IBJR.


Agência Brasil