The acting president Geraldo Alckmin is expected to forward the requests made by industry and retail associations regarding online betting companies to other ministries involved in the matter, such as Finance, Health, Communications, and Justice, later this week. Entities are calling for the regulation of advertising and sponsorships and the immediate end of credit card betting payments.
Alckmin, who is the vice-president and also the Minister of Development, Industry, Commerce, and Services (MDIC), met with representatives from the industry and commerce at the BNDES headquarters in São Paulo, early in the afternoon and, according to those present, committed to taking the issue to other ministers.
The president of the Institute for Retail Development, Jorge Gonçalves, said that the group "Proposal for the Nation", which includes the 15 entities that signed the manifesto for the regulation of advertising and sponsorships of online betting companies, as well as for the immediate impediment of using credit cards for payment of bets, brought these topics to Alckmin, who showed interest and demonstrated that the points brought were "coherent".
As revealed by Estadão, the economic team proposed the creation of an interministerial group to deal with sports betting, but the proposal did not materialize. The Ministry of Finance reported, in a note, that the group is "under construction".
One of the topics discussed by representatives of the industry and commerce with Alckmin was the taxation of these companies. "We even consider a 12% taxation unfair, while we pay 30%, 40%. We highlighted that if it is a matter of vices similar to cigarettes or alcohol, there should be equivalent taxation. He thought it made sense", said Gonçalves.
The law passed provides for a 12% taxation on the gross gaming revenue of online betting companies, minus the prizes paid to bettors - the so-called GGR (gross gaming revenue).
The regulation of advertising was also a relevant topic. At the end of July, the Treasury published an ordinance with rules to prevent and punish abusive advertising and require that the bets carry out actions to address the disorders of addiction, foreseeing, even, the suspension of players with "high risk of dependency".
However, there are no specific criteria for this classification, which would be up to each company - "as long as it meets the minimum requirements defined in the ordinance", the department emphasizes.
As shown by Estadão, there is currently a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) in the signature collection phase, which equates sports betting to alcoholic beverages, tobacco, agrochemicals, and medicine, and imposes legal restrictions on commercial advertising of the sector, with the requirement of warning about the harms.
However, the associations believe that this is a very long path given the speed with which bets grow in the country. "It has to be now, there has to be a provisional measure, there has to be something that immediately already makes a containment", affirms Gonçalves.
Credit card
Similarly, the group requests the immediate end of betting payments via credit card or similar means. With the new regulation of the betting market, the use of credit cards for payments of bets will be prohibited, but only from January 2025.
The manager of development and competitive intelligence of the Brazilian Association of Textile and Apparel Industry (Abit), Oliver Tan Oh, also present at the meeting, said that it is necessary for the government to anticipate and not only end payments via credit card but also block other types of payment methods that end up indebting consumers.
Source: Estadão
