The Central Bank stated, in response to Folha via LAI (Access to Information Act), that there are no guarantees that the study indicating that Bolsa Família beneficiaries transferred R$ 3 billion via Pix to online sports betting companies is not subject to errors. The release of the document, after being forwarded to the Senate, caused a significant reaction, including within the government of President Lula, who oversees the regulation of the betting market.
The monetary authority also said it did not produce preparatory documents for the drafting of the technical note, released on September 24. Despite not providing information about the supporting material for the study, the BC mentions terms such as "survey", "registration data", contradicting its own response.
The BC denied access to data used as a basis for the drafting of the technical note on the grounds that they are "covered by rules of secrecy or confidentiality".
As shown by Folha, the report left gaps and also provoked reactions from executives in the sector, who accused the technical analysis of not taking into account the value returned in prizes. According to a survey commissioned by the betting sector, Bolsa Família beneficiaries spent R$ 210 million on bets in August.
In total, the BC pointed out that R$ 21.1 billion in bets were identified in August via Pix. Of this amount, R$ 20.8 billion in transfers were received by 56 companies.
According to the agency, this more restricted group of companies was identified based on citations "extracted from news from information providers and consultancy reports that have conducted work on this betting market, available on the internet".
In the study itself, the agency said that the companies categorized in the gambling and betting sector moved a relatively small financial portion.
In response to the report, the monetary authority says that the mapping of companies operating as bets also took into account payment intermediaries not classified in the economic sector of betting.
In this sense, the BC says that "there is no guarantee that the identification is not subject to errors", which casts doubt on the conclusions of the study.
"Moreover, as it involves intermediaries, it is sometimes difficult to precisely determine the final beneficiary of the transaction. Thus, the potential disclosure of the list of companies considered in the study as bets could bring commercial harm to companies that may have been improperly identified or having been attributed an amount related to betting activity different from the actual", it states.
In the technical note sent to the Senate in September, the BC says that "approximately 15% of what is bet is retained by the companies", with the remainder being passed on to the winners. The institution, however, does not disclose the amounts paid as prizes. The figures are contested by executives in the sector.
This percentage, says the agency, is the result of a calculation that considers the volume of transfers to the selected Pix keys (credits) and the volume of transfers made by the CNPJs (companies) holding the accounts of the same Pix keys to individuals (debits).
When asked why the study did not consider the values that remain on the platforms available to bettors, the BC said it did not have access to this information, also through the LAI.
The numbers released by the monetary authority led President Lula to convene a meeting at the Palácio do Planalto to discuss the issue with ministers Fernando Haddad (Finance), Wellington Dias (Social Development), Nísia Trindade (Health), Ricardo Lewandowski (Justice), among other participants.
On that occasion, the government assessed that, before taking tougher measures, it would monitor how the actions already announced by the Ministry of Finance might impact the market. This Thursday (17), Minister Wellington Dias stated that the Bolsa Família card could not be used as a means of payment on online betting sites.
Since the BC study came to light, there has been increased pressure from banks and retailers for greater control over bets. They argue that the expansion of online sports betting in Brazil has triggered family indebtedness.
To Folha, the president of the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban), Isaac Sidney, said he foresaw a catastrophe with the formation of a bubble of delinquency. The National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services, and Tourism (CNC), for its part, filed an action in the Supreme Federal Court (STF) against the law that regulates bets.
At the request of the Attorney General's Office (AGU), the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce, and Services prepared a technical note on the subject, refuting the information that spending on bets caused a drop in retail and increased the indebtedness of the population. The department also questioned the BC's conclusions on the subject.
According to reports heard by Folha, the limitations of the study produced by an agency recognized for its technical rigor were viewed with strangeness, while the lack of attribution of authorship of the study caused discomfort among government members.
The BC only granted the report some information related to the methodology adopted in the study via LAI after an appeal, without many details.
According to the agency, the study used data from the Pix payment base, saying it had information on individualized clients, protected by bank secrecy. To identify people in great financial vulnerability, it considered information on Bolsa Família beneficiaries in December 2023 (the last date base available to the BC).
The process of calculating the values presented in the document used "only counts consolidated by participation or not in the program, gender, age, and whether the individual is or is not head of the family".
"We emphasize that no individualized data was extracted that would allow the identification of a more detailed profile of the Bolsa Família participants", it added.
The BC says it has a technical cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Hunger Combat for the implementation of joint actions in the area of financial citizenship.
Source: Folha
