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Brazil’s Ministry of Sports has launched a public consultation on the range of esports that may be subject to fixed-odds betting.
The consultation follows Ordinance 125/2024, which the ministry published at the end of last year and stipulated which sports (both traditional and esports) were eligible for sports betting.
According to that ordinance, only esports recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are currently permitted.
Although the ordinance otherwise recognises a wide range of traditional sporting events, the single line dedicated to esports seemed to overlook that the IOC has to date only recognised six esports categories based on archery, baseball, cycling, chess, dance and motorsports.
It would now appear that the limitation was an oversight, as the consultation welcomes feedback from “civil society, experts and other interested parties” on which types of esports are most popular in Brazil and whether esports not recognised by the IOC should be eligible for betting.
Before the consultation was announced, Brazilian operators were nervous that esports betting would be limited in Brazil's regulated market.
Rafael Marchetti Marcondes, chief legal officer for Rei do Pitaco and the legal director of the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR), told Vixio GamblingCompliance that the Ministry of Sport consultation had been opened “exactly due to the fact that the previous ordinance just covered esports accepted by the Olympic Committee”.
“Most popular [esports] modalities are not formally accepted by the Olympic Committee,” he said. “I do expect that we may have a favourable result from these publications in the sense that a broad interpretation may be needed.”
Giovanni Rocco, secretary of the National Secretary of Sports Betting within the Ministry of Sport, said in a statement announcing the consultation that the ministry was “seeking to understand which modalities civil society envisions for the ordinance and which criteria they suggest should be adopted”.
“With the responses obtained, the Ministry will be able to evaluate adjustments to the current ordinance, with the aim of aligning it with society’s expectations.”
The deadline for submissions to the consultation is March 5, 2025.
