Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro has officially incorporated sports wagering into the nation’s Investment Partnership Program (PPI) investment portfolio and national privatization strategy.
Bolsonaro’s executive order also designates the state-owned bank Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) and the Ministry of Finance as responsible for developing and executing the process for selecting sports betting operators.
BNDES and the Ministry of Finance will commence work on a bidding process, which could mirror the one employed in October 2019 to sell the instant lottery business Loteria Exclusiva Instantânea (Lotex).
Earlier this year, Brazil opted for this model, abandoning plans to establish a framework that would permit any operator satisfying licensing criteria to apply.
The Brazilian administration is planning to make sports wagering legal within the nation, aiming to create income and employment opportunities.
The Deputy Minister of Prizes and Raffles at the Secretariat of Evaluation, Planning, Energy and Lottery (SECAP), Valdir Marx, declared that numerous operators will be permitted to enter the marketplace. He emphasized the advantages of legalization, noting that Brazilians are currently sending between 20 and 80 billion reais overseas through global betting platforms due to the lack of regulation in the nation.
Marx stressed that legalizing sports betting would offer stronger safety for bettors, create new employment opportunities and generate more income, while also ensuring the integrity of sports, a key aspect of regulation.
He added that legal betting would also boost federal government revenue through a 3% turnover tax on sports betting, as outlined in a law signed by former President Michel Temer in December 2018.
The nation’s sports betting market was initially anticipated to launch by the end of 2020, but due to a shift from a qualitative to a quantitative model, legal betting is now expected to go live next year.
In June, the PPI Committee included gambling in a fundraising measure worth 370.3 billion reais, speeding up the process of finalizing the regulatory framework and advancing the concession process.
These measures aim to provide more funding for Brazil’s economic recovery, which has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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