The CPI of Bets in the Senate heard this Tuesday (3) the CEO of Betnacional, João Studart, who gave a lecture on the operation of sports betting and online games with a focus on responsible gaming and compliance. In clarifying to the collegiate, the executive spoke about the company's way of acting, the merger process with Flutter, and made it clear that the sector works in accordance with the best international practices.
Asked several times about how a bet operates in Brazil without collecting taxes or generating jobs, the CEO of Betnacional, João Studart, made it clear that the sector has always been available to the government to comply with regulation since the law that established sports betting in Brazil. “Throughout this period, even without regulation, we have adopted the best global examples of responsible gaming, compliance, and other practices”.
He highlighted that although it does not directly collect taxes on the activity, all taxes related to international transactions by payment method companies are paid according to the Central Bank's regulations. Even though it does not generate a large number of direct formal jobs, the NSX Group has contracts with outsourced companies, and these do generate jobs.
Several times the executive emphasized that regulation needs to come into force for serious companies to be able to operate as the government determines. “The illegal ones need to be banned, and formulas for this must be found”, he said.
According to him, the blocks by the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) are difficult to be effectively permanent. “As Anatel rightly said, it's like drying ice, because an illegal bet blocked opens a new electronic address the next day”.
For Studart, payment institutions are a good filter to prevent the operation of irregular sites. “Pix is an excellent tool, and not allowing payment institutions to transfer resources to unauthorized bets is one of the best ways to ensure that they are excluded from the segment".
Regarding responsible gaming, the CEO of Betnacional stated that since the beginning of operations in Brazil, the bets of the NSX Group have adopted and continue to comply with all globally adopted rules.
“Even our influencers are advised not to offer the activity as a form of income or money-making. We do not want misleading advertising, and our contracts with them and with ambassadors make clear the practices of responsible gaming and that bets are for entertainment”, he stated.
“I feel offended by illegal bets, but I believe it is up to the regulatory body to inspect and remove from the market those who do not comply with the laws. There are many serious people in our sector”, he stated when questioned about irregularities in the segment of sports betting and online games.
Loterj criticizes the “adaptation period”
The president of Loterj, Hazenclever Lopes Cançado, criticized the “adaptation period” allowed by the Ministry of Finance. For him, the department created a “tacit list” in which 101 bets can continue operating until 2025, even though all have not paid the R$ 30 million without assessing their operating conditions, in violation of the legislation. According to him, if the regulation had been proposed by the Executive Power within the deadline, federal revenue would dispense with the current discussions about spending cuts.
“The legislators of this House did not authorize this grace period for bets to operate in Brazil. Congress did not authorize operators to profit without paying any grant or tax… We have 16 states in the country that do not have a budget that gives the revenue that a bet [...] collects [per year]... Can you imagine how powerful a sector that bills more than R$ 300 billion a year is?”, he questioned.
Hazenclever Cançado said that there are relevant cases reported in the press of betting companies accepted in this list that are registered in the name of "fronts".
In his testimony as a guest, Hazenclever stated that Rio de Janeiro took the lead in regulating the sector in the state and accrediting companies to operate sports betting and online games. According to the director, the State was strict in approving companies, which had to go through all the stages of the process defined in the tender.
“In addition to numerous demands, they also had to go through a Proof of Concept (PoC) to be accredited. Despite what some members of the federal government say, we did not release the activity without criteria. More than 100 companies presented themselves in Rio de Janeiro, and only 25% of them were approved by Loterj, which demonstrates the rigor with which we handle the issue”.
Source: GMB
