Brazil Sports Betting Regulation in Place by Mid-2021

Brazil could have a regulatory framework for sports betting next year according to estimates provided by local experts and shared by BNL Data. The report revealed that the Government is planning to establish a regulatory framework for fixed odds betting, in which all participants in the activity will know the prizes in advance, with the complete sports betting regulation scheduled for signing into law next June.

Concession Model

The industry which is projected to generate up to $770 million per year would let investors enter in the second semester of 2021, according to the undersecretary of Prizes and Draws of the Ministry of Economy, Waldir Eustáquio Marques Júnior.

The ministry has set its sights to a concession model instead of the original plans for a model where operators would be authorized to offer the activity, having followed the recommendation of the National Treasury Attorney’s Office (PGFN).

Undersecretary Marques Junior justified the delay in the process of establishing the regulatory framework, by stressing on the importance for legal guarantees for the operations. He argued that Law 13,756 approved back in December 2018 did not address certain important issues, including regulatory sanctions, and the updated version of the regulation is expected to provide the regulator with an array of fines and sanctions to discipline operators which breach the agreements stated in their concession contracts.

Fixed-Odds Sports Betting

Sports betting is still a controversial issue in the country which regarded gaming illegal since 1946 and considered gaming and betting a criminal misdemeanor under the Decree Law 3,688/1941. Since the signing of Law 13,756/2018 it is widely accepted that fixed-odds sports betting has become legal.

After President Jair Bolsonaro signed into law in August the proposed by the Ministry of Economy decree to include sports betting into Brazil’s Investment Partnership Program (PPI) portfolio, wagering on sports will also be included in the PPI and the National Privatization Program (PND).

Sports betting was added to the PPI as a measure to stimulate businesses and create growth to partially offset the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the national economy which shrank by 1.5% in the first quarter of 2020.

It will launch as public lottery service under the name “fixed-odds betting” and the PPI would facilitate finding investors from the private sector, while the whole process is overseen by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) and the Ministry of Economy.