Picture: Bryan Anselm/The new York Times
Picture: Bryan Anselm/The new York Times
In the coming months, Brazilian football clubs are expected to gain yet another source of revenue from the regulation of so-called fixed-odd lotteries, sports betting. There is still no deadline for this regulation, but experts in the area believe that this process should take around ten months.
According to Law No. 13,756, sanctioned on December 12, 2018, Brazilian football clubs are entitled to 3% of the volume collected in this type of bet, with 2% coming from oppositions made in physical locations and 1% in an online way. With the rules, it is estimated that this market may move up to R$10 billion (US$1.8bn) only in the first year of activity. In other words, this would yield about R$300 million (US$54m) to football clubs.
A study by FGV estimated, in 2018, that this type of bet moved R$ 4 billion (US$720m) that year - an amount that did not bring any return to sports entities. There are around 500 online betting sites offering Brazilian games. The platforms are registered abroad and operate in the country without taxation and regulation.
In other countries, this type of game follows current legislation and already moves billions. "In Italy, the collection with sports betting reaches US$34 billion per year; in France, US$16 billion. In the United States, only in New York, US$9 billion,", says lawyer Pedro Trengrouse, professor at FGV.
The lack of regulation in Brazil has already led thousands of bettors to go without receiving prizes because some bookmakers did not honor bets on the results of the 13th round of the Brasileirão in 2017, for example. In 2007, an investigation by the Federal Police led to the cancellation of 11 matches of the Brazilian Championship due to result manipulation.
Lawyer Angelo Alberoni has been in this market for ten years. He currently works as a business manager for the sports betting site Betmotion. The page is hosted in Curaçau, with an office in Uruguay. "Gambling in Brazil is still viewed marginally, while in almost all other Western countries it is already regulated," he said. "I believe that this request for urgency in the decree speeds this up. But because of the pandemic, it may take a little longer," he continued.
Source: GMB/Estadão
