President Lula's government announced on Thursday that it will discuss with the sector restrictions on payments for sports betting and online gambling. The Executive, however, did not detail what could be done. The measures will be taken starting next week, with the blocking of sites scheduled for the 11th. The Ministry of Finance will discuss with the bets that continue operating the actions to be taken.
“Knowing that there are 190 enabled addresses, Lula authorized imposing restrictions on payment methods, which may include the Bolsa Família card," stated the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Dário Durigan. “It will be discussed with the companies from next week”.
He reiterated that the blocking of illegal sites from next week will be crucial to define the rules in the use of online games, including beneficiaries of the social program. The government ended up not adopting specific measures for any user, including Bolsa Família beneficiaries.
“The Bolsa Família public is protected with the suspension of illegal bets and now with the thorough review that will be done in the authorized companies”, he said. "For now, the use of the Bolsa Família card is not suspended”, he stated.
Durigan recalled the prohibition of the use of credit cards in games, already announced by the card brands. “We anticipated the prohibition of credit cards”, he said.
The regulation of the betting market presented by the Ministry of Finance already anticipated the prohibition of credit cards starting January 2025, but the administrators anticipated and made the decision to prevent its use on betting sites.
The secretary said that, in the meeting, focus was given to the list of regularized bets, published by the Ministry of Finance. “We are building the negative list, so that it reaches the authorities, especially the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), for the takedown of the sites”, he stated.
The Minister of Justice, Ricardo Lewandowski, said that the Federal Police are combating criminal actions, such as money laundering. He stated that influencers who are children and adolescents cannot operate in this market.
Meeting
The meeting was attended by the Vice President, Geraldo Alckmin, and the ministers Rui Costa (Civil House), Fernando Haddad (Finance), Wellington Dias (Social Development), Nísia Trindade (Health) and André Fufuca (Sports) and Ricardo Lewandowski (Justice), as well as secretaries.
At the opening of the meeting Lula said that he associated bets with dependency and Haddad predicted the takedown of 2,000 sites.
“There are a lot of people getting into debt, a lot of people spending what they don't have, and we think this should be treated as a dependency issue. That is, people are dependent, they are addicted. We decided to hold the meeting that is present our Minister of Finance who has been trying to take care of this since we took office”, Lula stated.
In his initial speech, Haddad stated that there are already ten ordinances regulating the games. “We are always relying on the best international experience, to bring to Brazil the good practices to face this issue, once, in our understanding, strong regulation will imply in the protection of society, in the treatment as entertainment, as it should be of this issue”, he said.
About the rules already defined by the Department, Haddad highlighted that “they are ordinances that talk about technical issues, about what is fair play, certification, financial issues, the mandatory use of the financial system, prohibition of credit card, among others. The ordinances also deal with the monitoring of users, CPF by CPF”, he explained.
The minister mentioned the need to regulate what needs broader decisions, which does not go through the Ministry of Finance and Sports, such as involving the Ministry of Health, the issues of Bolsa Família and also related to Justice.
“We have problems of chemical dependency, other types of dependency that are worked by the Ministry of Health. This is a new challenge that presents itself with the virtual world and is being treated with the best possible technique”.
Haddad said that 2,000 'bets' should go offline in the coming days. Since October 1st, only betting houses that requested authorization and were released by the Finance can offer games to Brazilians. Nationally, 93 companies that explore 205 bets were released. From October 11, the sites of illegal companies will be suspended.
“Beyond what was regulated, I need to hear the other ministries so that we complete the regulation, since in the next few days 2,000 sites will go offline, from the Brazilian virtual space, will become inaccessible to the citizen who is in the national space”, Haddad pointed out.
Concern increased with BC study
The government's concern with the increase in online betting increased last week, after the release of a survey by the Central Bank that showed that the average monthly spending of Brazilians with Pix for 'bets' and gambling is around R$ 20 billion this year. Especially the estimate that, in August, 5 million beneficiaries of Bolsa Família spent R$ 3 billion on games and online bets.
A process of market regulation is already underway, coordinated by the Ministry of Finance, from a law approved last year. The rules come into force in January 2025, when the regulated online betting market will begin.
Given the accelerated growth of betting, even before the BC estimates came to public, the Finance had already anticipated one of the stages, as in the case of authorized companies.
The regulation also provides for the prohibition of some payment methods, such as credit cards, and the creation of rules for advertising. These measures, however, only come into force in 2025. Regarding payment on credit cards, the association that represents companies such as Visa, Mastercard, and Elo decided to also prohibit its use starting this month.
Source: GMB
