Brazilian Lawmakers Introduce New Safer Gambling Bills

As Brazil prepares to launch regulated sports betting, lawmakers continue to discuss potential safer gambling measures. Officials have launched two measures that would protect vulnerable players from gambling harm as addiction-related concerns grow.

New Measures Would Protect the Vulnerable from Harm

Senator Alessandro Vieira introduced PL 3,718/2024, a measure that would limit betting among senior citizens. Additionally, the bill would also limit how much indebted members of society or people from lower-income backgrounds relying on social welfare can bet.

Vieira’s measure would introduce spending caps that are based on a player’s declared income. Depending on spending, bettors could also be banned from wagering.

Elmar Nascimento, on the other hand, presented PL 3,745/2024, which would also introduce certain restrictions. Unlike Vieira’s bill, which focuses on riskier audiences, Nascimento plans to instead limit the overall money players can spend on bets to 15% of their monthly income.

Additionally, the measure would ban high-risk people from placing bets between 9 pm and 6 am.

Brazil Betting Faces Significant Harm Concerns

These aren’t the first measures that have sought to shield players from harm. Earlier, Brazilian banks suggested banning betting on credit in order to protect at-risk players from overspending. This demand has been echoed by the Brazilian Institute for Responsible Gaming (IBJR), which advised operators to ban credit cards as a payment option.

Others have suggested that people who receive money from the Bolsa Família social welfare program should also be restricted from overspending on bets.

Some people have even called for a ban on gambling ads, mirroring similar demands in other regulated markets.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to comment on some of the gambling harm concerns later this week.

Brazil’s National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), on the other hand, just addressed claims that bettors are funding their habits using money needed for food and medical expenses. Such claims have previously been raised by the Brazilian Society of Retail and Consumption (SBVC).

At the same time, Brazilian banks are concerned not only about the potential increase in problem gambling but also about the significant financial shifts the introduction of regulated betting is expected to cause.

The regulated betting market, for context, is set to launch on January 1, 2025. Operators that are yet to apply for a license, however, have been asked to cease operation from October 1, 2024.