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The government minister responsible for Brazil’s federal betting regulator is considering stricter rules on advertising and online casino games and says he would even outlaw online gambling altogether if given the opportunity.
In an interview with Brazilian media platform ICL, Minister of Finance Fernando Haddad doubled down on recent criticisms by describing Brazil’s online betting market as a “disgrace” and saying he would personally “press the button to stop” if legislation was put before Congress and he could vote on whether to prohibit online gambling.
The minister also dismissed tax revenues being generated by the newly regulated industry by stating that there was no amount of “revenue that justifies the robbery we are suffering”.
Some six months after the launch of Brazil’s licensed market, Haddad told ICL his ministry will soon be sending statistics on the industry to the desk of President Lula and advocating to treat gambling as a “serious public health issue”.
One issue under consideration is whether gambling advertising should be “ultra restrictive” like it is for cigarettes or alcohol.
“Another thing is the question of games of chance and sports betting, and whether we should differentiate between them or not,” the finance minister added.
A December 2023 federal law approved by Congress authorises a wide range of fixed-odds betting on both casino-style games and sports, even though an underlying 2018 law was limited to the latter and it was the government’s initial intention to keep it that way.
Although Haddad’s remarks are consistent with similar comments he made just a few weeks ago, they have caused alarm among industry groups because Brazil’s Secretariat for Prizes and Bets (SPA) operates as an agency under the purview of his finance ministry and Haddad himself was closely involved in the legislative and rulemaking processes that led to the launch of the regulated market on January 1 this year.
The remarks could be read in the context of a fierce lobbying battle over taxes, however.
Through a June 11 executive decree, Haddad has engineered a 50 percent increase in the headline tax rate applied to online gambling from 12 percent to 18 percent of gross gaming revenue, effective October 1.
Betting operators have since been vocal in their criticism of the move and are lobbying against the increase, which must be approved by Brazil’s Congress if it is to become permanent.
Haddad and other senior government figures are actively seeking to rally popular support behind a government campaign to subject the three Bs of betting, banking and billionaires to higher taxes in order to offset other budgetary challenges.
In a statement, Brazilian industry association ANJL said operators “were not expecting to be the subject of an attack of this kind from the minister [who] is the head of the department under which the regulation of the industry is being built”.
ANJL said that Haddad’s stated concerns regarding problem gambling among Brazilian families primarily relate to the activities of illegal operators that are not being subject to enforcement and would only grow if licensed platforms were banned from advertising.
“Without responsible and informative advertising, bettors will not be able to distinguish between legal and illegal betting operators and will be even more vulnerable to influencers and all kinds of scams,” the association added.
Fellow industry group IBJR similarly said it was “perplexed by the statements made by Minister Fernando Haddad that minimise the revenue generated by the betting sector”.
“Statements that downplay the importance of the regulated market create legal uncertainty, discourage investment and, in practice, strengthen the illegal operations that the government should combat,” IBJR added.
Elsewhere in his interview with ICL, Haddad did say that the government was focused on payments and other fintech companies that support illegal online gambling.
He said the finance ministry is providing information on illegal payments to the Brazilian Central Bank, which regulates financial institutions, and also plans to involve the Federal Police to conduct criminal investigations.
