“We know that the market looks forward to regulating our market and at the same time we also want to provide Brazil with new sources of income to boost the economy and end illegality, in a safe and integrated manner,” explains Marques.
The Undersecretary of Prizes and Sweepstakes at the Ministry of Economy admits that the COVID-19 pandemic changed plans. “The fight against the coronavirus obviously influences current work because, today, Brazil has other priorities, such as health. And so, it must be. But we never stopped working and kept moving forward to meet the objectives,” says Waldir to GMB.
The future operation also requires previous studies of economic, technical and legal feasibility, whose realization goes beyond the scope of SECAP and requires support from specialized consultancy, similarly to what was done with the LOTEX concession.
This process takes extra time but will give clearer rules to the market for operators who wish to invest in the future sports betting or fixed-odds market in Brazil. "We are already talking to other government entities on all points that currently make up the regulation and I believe that there may be important news by the end of this year, as soon as the pandemic crisis passes."
Yesterday morning, Itamar De Carvalho Pereira, Secretariat Technician, participated in a webinar organized by IGaming Business, in which he explained that sports betting in Brazil was permitted by law 13.756, approved by the National Congress in 2018. “The Ministry of Economy has two years, extendable for another two years, to do so. At the end of this year, the first two are fulfilled and if we are not finished, we will use the extension allowed by the law,” explained Itamar.
Some later comments that circulated on the networks suggested that sports betting in Brazil would only be regulated in 2022, but Waldir Marques clarifies that this is a limit, but not a goal. SECAP's idea is to have regulation well before that year.
“We work focused on having the market regulated in 2021. Today, we don't want to have to use the second year of the extension. That is why we will put all our effort into presenting a regulation that guarantees safety for the operator, for the regulator and especially for the bettor. This was why public consultations were held, in which we listened to the market, the industry”, concluded Marques Jr.
Source: Exclusive Games Magazine Brasil
