The government seeks to launch initiatives aimed at protecting gamblers and preventing problematic gambling and excessive spending, especially among the population receiving social assistance.
Brazil.- At the Planalto Palace, headquarters of the Brazilian Executive Power, the need to carry out a national broadcast, led by Lula da Silva, to announce a package of measures aimed at combating problematic gambling and the excessive spending of gamblers on gambling began to take shape.
The Ministry of Finance is working on the final adjustments to what will be announced, with the assistance of the Ministries of Health and Social Development on some issues. For example, the use of credit cards and Bolsa Familia cards to pay for bets will be prohibited; progress is also being made in the obligation to show so-called responsible advertising in gambling advertisements (which includes not allowing, for example, advertising campaigns that suggest that gamblers can become millionaires with these bets).
Once the package of measures is finalized, the national government seeks to have the president himself disseminate these measures to give greater reach to the situation.
During his trip to New York for the United Nations (UN) summit, President Lula expressed to his collaborators his outrage at the news about the impact of gambling on the accounts of the most needy population and the high rates of indebtedness. Lula demanded that his government take urgent measures to reverse this situation and therefore he might be the one to announce this package of initiatives.
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The President of the Executive became aware of the situation through the technical note from the Central Bank, which indicated a spending of R$ 3.000m (USD 551m) on bets by Bolsa Familia beneficiaries only through Pix and in the month of August.
