The president of the National Institute of Social Security (INSS), Alessandro Stefanutto, stated on Sunday (19) that the agency is considering banning the use of funds from the Continuous Provision Benefit (BPC) in bets. In an interview with Coluna do Estadão, Stefanutto said he will request information from the Central Bank, which last year pointed out transfers to bets with funds from the Bolsa Família, also exclusively aimed at people in social vulnerability.
The BPC is a benefit of a monthly minimum wage paid by the INSS to people with disabilities and low-income elderly who cannot support themselves. It targets a highly socially vulnerable population, whose monthly family income per person does not exceed R$ 706, or R$ 24 per day. To obtain the benefit, it is not necessary to have contributed to the INSS.
“The BPC is to mitigate misery. If there is use for sports betting, either we granted the benefit wrongly, because the person is not miserable, or there is a misuse of the resource. We are conducting a regulatory study of this issue in the technical area, which will later be presented to the Ministry of Social Security”, said Stefanutto, who was the attorney general of the INSS before heading the agency.
The use of INSS money for sports betting is already prohibited for retirees, pensioners, and beneficiaries who advance R$ 150 interest-free from their monthly benefits. The advance was launched by the federal government at the end of last year.
“The banks that operate the advance already have expertise in banning CNPJs of sports betting companies. If we allow bets, we will feed vices”, stated the president of the institute.
Source: Estadão
