The big international gambling companies (both online casinos and sports betting, but especially the latter) are themselves betting heavily on the sponsorship of the sports phenomenon. Of course, their potential customers and users are, mostly, watching football.
The activity of gambling is duly regulated in most countries of the world, and especially in those where football has millions of fans, as is the case of Europe and the Americas (apart from the United States, where in any case it has been growing in the last years). This does not prevent the media from wondering about the future of the relationship between these two worlds, which are so close and increasingly dependent on one another.
The situation in England
A recent article by the BBC, dated August 28, draws attention to the growing phenomenon of casinos and bookmakers sponsoring the teams from the two main levels of English football. The article estimates 60% of the number of teams in the Premier League (the first category) and Championship (the second) in the European football season that started now (and runs through May) has a sponsorship deal with a gaming firm. More precisely, there are 9 Premier League teams and 17 Premier League teams.
The media begins by wondering if the percentage of sponsorship from such companies will not be getting too high. After all, children and youngsters are passionate about football (in England as in Brazil and in the rest of the world) and there is a risk that the act of betting money to take pleasure in football - that little euphoria of adrenaline that the player always feels - to be internalized by the youngsters as something indispensable to make football enjoyable.
Gambling in Brazil DESDE ACA
As everyone knows, gambling is prohibited by law in Brazil. In the case of casinos, their activity was banned in the 1940s, but in recent years deputies and senators have been debating the possibility of releasing the practice. Sports betting is in a similar situation, and here it is not only prohibited to operate a betting company but it is even forbidden to bet - that is, the bettor himself may have problems with the authorities if he is caught betting money on a website.
But all this is only valid if the casino or the bettor is based in national territory. The internet has created a new element for which societies have not yet fully adapted. Online sports betting and online casinos are freely accessed by Brazilians, since they are based in foreign countries where activity is permitted, supervised and regulated (such as Malta, Gibraltar or Belize).
As virtual roulette chips or virtual bets are registered on electronic servers located in another country, belonging to companies whose offices are also abroad, Brazilian law does not prohibit them. Just search for "online casino brazil" to find several options to play for money, with the possibility of receiving possible winnings through various platforms. The same goes for sports betting.
In the case of Brazil, online games have brought a social change movement. Today, everyone knows that they can bet over the internet and this helped to create an idea of change, reflected in a recent poll from Paraná Research. The result showed that about half of the Brazilian population will already be favorable to the liberation of games of chance. This makes the issue difficult to solve (the other half is against) but proves that the old social consensus on banning gambling is disappearing.
What measures of responsibility are being taken by bookmakers?
Bookmakers, aware of their impact on society, are promoting social responsibility campaigns. One of them has the motto "when the fun stops, stop". The BBC's article also says that a five-year youth-friendly campaign is being prepared that will explicitly warn of the risks of excesses and call for responsible gambling.
What future for Brazil?
Along with casino games, sports betting may be regulated, for the simple reason that the national market is losing opportunities for tax revenue. This is a giant market that has been 'worked' by the big international betting brands, which do not even have national competitors because ... their activity would be prohibited by law.
From Portugal comes interesting news. The online gaming was regulated recently, and its revenue goes directed to Social Security. It turns out (according to the online newspaper Eco) that the numbers of the first half of the year showed that revenue collected in only six months has already surpassed what was predicted for the whole year, and even exceeded by 18%.
Brazil is in dire need of revenue, as we discovered in the saddest way earlier this month of September. Would not it be a good idea to follow this example?
Source: GMB
