Finance Minister Fernando Haddad gave an exclusive interview to economist and ICL founder, Eduardo Moreira. He explained that the government’s goal is to tighten the clampdown on fintechs that are being used as vehicles for illegal betting operations. According to him, the Federal Police (PF) will be involved.
“We are already informing the Central Bank about fintechs that are possibly serving as vehicles for organized crime, money laundering, or even worse. There are many things that need to be addressed,” Haddad explained.
Among other planned actions are stricter rules for advertising — similar to the restrictions that exist for alcohol and cigarettes — and a thorough investigation of fintechs that may be facilitating illegal betting activities.
“After the six months in which the State gathered this information, we’ll take the data to the president and treat this as a serious public health issue. (…) We’ll need to address the advertising aspect — you know that alcohol and cigarettes have extremely strict advertising restrictions,” Haddad revealed.
The minister also raised the possibility of distinguishing between sports betting and online casino games. “Another point is this issue of gambling and sports betting — we’ll study whether or not to differentiate between them.”
Haddad also criticized the delay in the regulation process, which allowed the expansion of betting and the lack of tax collection in Brazil.
“For four years, no one regulated advertising, no one collected taxes on bets. More than R$40 billion (US$7.2bn) in subsidies went abroad — they bought crypto, bought dollars through fintechs. That money disappeared from Brazil,” the minister stated.
Source: GMB
