Gabriel de Carvalho Costa, president of the Sports Law Commission of OAB / ES, moderator of the webinar, welcomed the panelists and asked each one to present their initial considerations about sports betting.
Mariana Chamelette traced a history about the gaming sector in Brazil, stating that in 1946 the activity was prohibited in the country. “The only exception was betting on horse racing and lotteries. Sports betting was never interrupted, as it continued illegally, until in 2018 the sports betting law was approved, still pending regulation,” she commented, noting that Waldir Marques Jr., director of SECAP, of the Ministry of Economy, informed at the Brazilian Gaming Congress that until July 2021 the activity will be regulated.
Renato Renatino said that the entire legal community involved in sports is attentive to this happening. “The best regulated and attention-grabbing market worldwide is that of England. They knew how to regulate, supervise, and exploit this activity and encouraged bookmakers to offer betting possibilities. They have thus become an example to be followed,” he said.
Udo Seckelmann commented that the legislation currently under discussion is still insufficient, as it deals only with sports betting, when the market expected a more complete legal document. “Regulation is taking too long because the law was rushed and I believe that, in order to have a well-regulated market, it is necessary to address the gambling sector as a whole. This limitation is harmful to the market,” he analyzed. According to him, the positive aspect is that SECAP is open to receiving contributions to improve regulation.
On the tax aspects, Udo commented that it is one of the most critical points when regulating an activity. “In the case of betting, the government's objective is to attract the market to a legal zone and collect taxes. But we need to keep in mind that the higher the tax, the lower the interest of the operators. Not counting the tax base. As long as you think about raising money on turnover, it will not be possible to bring the activity to legality. International practices deal with GGR taxation, which is much more appropriate for taxing the remaining amount after the payment of prizes,” he explained.
Renato Renatino commented that depending on how the taxation for players is defined, many bettors will continue to use websites from abroad, which in general do not tax winnings with bets. "KPMG studies show tax revenues of around R$ 4 billion if the regulations deal with taxation properly and are fair," he said. "Brazil has a great opportunity to create regulations that attract operators and keep bettors playing in companies based in the country," he commented.
Chamelette stated that the positive point of the sports betting law is to bring the activity to legality and guarantee revenues in the form of taxes. "When sports betting companies are established in Brazil, they will generate taxes normally and will guarantee the generation of many jobs, which is why I think that the way they will be received in the country should be very well considered," she said.
Renatino recalled that after the sports betting law was enacted, numerous companies began to support football teams especially. “They came to stay and until then clubs were afraid to sign contracts. This only started to happen effectively with the arrival of a specific law for sports betting. It is an emerging market and with the regulation we will know if this will grow as we imagine,” he said.
Seckelmann said he believes that the positive impacts of regulation will be immense and that the main companies in the sector will come to Brazil. "They will not continue to operate from abroad and I am sure that bettors will give preference to companies operating in a regulated market."
Regarding the economic impacts, he stated that it is very difficult to estimate how much Brazil moves in sports betting. "The collection will be high if the tax is low and fair and this will allow the country to reach the TOP 3 in the world market in the area of sports betting". Consumer protection will be another major advantage of a regulated market, as will sports integrity. “The clubs will have to see, when the regulations come out, the contracts with their sponsors, since it is expected that sponsorship agreements with companies not established in Brazil are to be prevented. If they are here, they will invest a lot in the teams, in ambassadors and in several brand actions,” he commented.
The manipulation of results was also addressed in the webinar and the panelists were unanimous in stating that this is an increasingly restricted practice and that it does not depend on the regulation or not of sports betting, although they admitted that in a regulated market, much more attention to events will inhibit practice. Chamelette even pointed out codes of ethics from both CBF and FIFA in the sense that these entities always maintain effective policies to bring transparency to sporting events.
“Match monitoring is already taking place in a consistent way all over the world thanks to extremely professional companies that are heard by authorities when detecting result manipulation,” said Seckelmann. According to him, operators, regulators, sports organizations, and bettors should collaborate in order to curb the practice more and more. "Reporting channels are also important tools for sports integrity," he concluded.
Source: GMB
