Brazil Concerned about the Black Market as Betting Launch Looms

Brazil, which is set to launch its regulated betting market in a few days’ time, has some concerns about competition from unlicensed operators. Expressed by the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), these concerns believe that if the country fails to deal with the black-market companies, it might lose some of its licensees.

Illegal Gambling Is a Fundamental Threat

As of the time of this writing, 71 operators’ licenses have been officially approved. In addition, 16 of them have already paid the $4.9 million license fee to operate in Brazil. While the international community of sportsbooks has been very interested in Brazil, experts fear that unfair competition from the black market might make some of these companies reconsider.

For context, recent estimates from the ANJL put the number of illegal websites available in Brazil at 2,000. Black market operators have remained a persistent threat despite the attempts to limit their influence.

To make matters worse, black-market operators are equally dangerous to the consumers as they are to the legal market. Whilst legal operators are required to offer a variety of safeguards designed to shield players from excessive gambling and prevent minors from placing bets, illegal sportsbooks have none of these concerns.

Strict Measures Would Be Needed

Several days ago, the country’s National Telecommunications Agency, Anatel, and the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) teamed up to combat unlawful gambling. In addition to that, Anatel discussed the matter with the ANJL as Brazil continued to seek solutions.

The telecommunications agency was certain of one thing, which is that the government must provide it with more power, allowing it to block bad actors and making the blocking process faster and more efficient. Quick action will minimize the losses to illegal operators, Anatel argued.

An additional measure that has been proposed is payment blocking, which would prevent illegal companies from reemerging with new domains. Because of that, new betting regulations would block payments via the Pix payment system, usually used by gambling companies in Brazil, from reaching black market actors.

In any case, Brazil is preparing for difficulties with illegal gambling, recognizing its fundamental threat that would require constant oversight. Despite that, industry supporters are still looking forward to the launch of legal betting.

In other news, Brazil has also been concerned about the problem gambling issues the launch of regulated gaming may cause. Because of that, a measure was introduced to prevent recipients of aid money from placing bets with this money. This measure, however, was appealed by the Attorney General’s Office (AGU), which argued that the government shouldn’t control how families spend their money.