Sports betting was officially legalized through Law 13.756/2018, sanctioned by then President Michel Temer in one of his last acts, in December, before Jair Bolsonaro took office. The online betting websites will leave the legal void they are currently working in and will become a regulated activity.
The law establishes that the Ministry of Finance has a term of four years (being two years, but renewable for two more) to create in practice a regime of sports betting. It is a matter of repeatedly questioning the government institution what it is hoping to put on the ground. But it is not so simple. There are several challenges that the legislator sector must face.
Establishing a fair tax regime is one of them. The temptation is great, especially if revenue collection is one of the objectives, but it is important that the payments are not disproportionate, so that the relationship between the benefit of legality and the risk of illegality is correct. In any case, besides the necessary registration that the foreign companies must do to operate in national territory, it is also intended to encourage the emergence of Brazilian companies in this sector.
Manipulation of results is another real risk. Finance should work closely with the CBF (and other sports authorities) and police authorities to prevent abuse. In other countries, a common procedure is the signaling to authorities of betting volumes in excess of normal, with the immediate suspension of bets for the challenges in question.
In addition, data monitoring should be centralized, precisely to allow greater control of what is happening at any given time. Players, presidents and others who engage in schemes for manipulation of results should be severely punished by civil and sports courts.
It will also be needed to validate softwares, ensure regular inspections, etc., as do the regulators of the gaming sector around the world. Companies should have sufficient financial capacity to withstand unexpected losses, without reflecting these losses on their users. But there are other challenges.
Taxation
Getting revenue was one of the arguments used by President Bolsonaro when he appealed to Congress to pass the Provisional Measure that would become law in December. This will, of course, be an elementary point in this process. What taxes to apply? Finance will not want to impose taxes that are too high to hinder the development of the activity. Mainly because the first disadvantaged would be for the Brazilian entrepreneurs, who will always be dropping from zero compared to their international competitors, who already have their entire structure "on the ground", with technical, financial and legal means.
But at the same time, it will not be possible to put taxation too low. Even politically it would be difficult to justify such a scenario, knowing that many voters (and a good percentage of Bolsonaro's own voters) are not convinced that releasing sports betting is a step in the right direction. For many, it looks more like a giveaway to the gambling lobby. Revenue from this "new" industry has to be solid.
Match-fixing, or manipulation of results
This is another challenge, but with a difference from the previous one: it is not new. It already exists, currently! And it is not for "fault" of the performance of sports betting platforms in the country, nor for the access of Brazilians to them. It's even the Internet's "fault".
As soon as there are international companies launching betting offerings that include football matches of the Brazilian championships, the risk of manipulation has already begun. A large part of the global betting market is in Asia, and especially in China.
Chinese gamblers love European football, but Brazilian football also has - and rightly so - a great appeal worldwide. What prevents a user from betting an amount and contacting the players of a team to lose and split the profit with them? The laws, certainly - but the user does not even have to be Brazilian, nor the majority of the bettors affected.
As it turns out, it is urgent that the Ministry of Finance go ahead with its work. For the sake of sports truth itself.
Source: GMB / Jornal Dia Dia / Cénario MT
