Brazil’s developing betting industry needs to ‘fight prejudice against games’ a federal Senator has asserted, as the newly regulated market takes its first shaky steps towards maturity.
“Betting companies are struggling daily to make this a platform that creates jobs and brings in currently responsible and legal betting, based on criteria regulated by the state, controlled by agencies,” stated Irajá Abreu, Senator for the Province of Tocantins,
He made the remarks at the SBC Summit Rio conference during a keynote panel, where he was joined on the stage by representatives from the Ministry of Finance.
Moving on from a ‘lawless land’
The process for creating a regulated betting market in Brazil has been, as is the case with most acts of government, a long one. In essence, the biggest step came towards the end of 2023 when then-newly elected President Lula da Silva announced his intention to legalise a nationwide market.
Legislative processes came to fruition with the creation of the ‘Bets’ regulatory framework, which now governs the marketplace. However, as Carolina Yumi, Deputy Secretary of Prizes and Betting at the Ministry of Finance, said at the SBC Summit Rio, the whole process ‘seems like 20 years’.
Brazil’s history of legalised betting is a long and often turbulent one. Casinos were permitted in the country until 1946, after which the only form of gambling citizens were legally allowed to participate in were lotteries – though in recent years a grey market has seen multiple local and international betting firms operate in Brazil.
In 2018 a law was passed allowing fixed-odds betting, with firms requiring a permit from the Ministry of Finance. In 2023 an amendment was introduced to expand the scope to online gaming.
Finally in 2024 Lula’s legislative plans were passed through Congress, creating the online gaming market launched on 1 January 2025. This law also created the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA), represented at the Summit by Daniela Olimpio, Undersecurity of Prizes and Bets at the Ministry of Finance.
“Its important to highlight, we have the feeling at SPA that we have been working for decades and it is natural to feel we are being overloaded with work and don’t have much time to do what we need to do,” she remarked.
It is of course early days for the new market, having launched just two months ago. The workload for the regulator remains heavy though, with Olimpio noting that over 350 licence applications have been filed so far, 71 of which have been approved.
On top of that, the panelists observed that there are ‘hundreds’ of documents proposing amendments to the legislation around betting. So, in hindsight, are Brazilian authorities confident that the regulation is doing all it can?
“We consider we did our best in terms of procedure and proceedings, and dealing with and controlling with the players sending us requests,” Olimpio reflected. “We were trying to understand what rationale should be adopted and what we were wanting to offer Brazilian society.”
For Senador Abreu, the key objective of the Brazil betting regulation has been achieved – to counter the country’s black market and legitimise an industry which advocates believe will add billions to the Brazilian economy.
A combination of ‘necessity and market reality’ led to the creation of Brazil’s regulations in a ‘short period’, Abreu said. He also believes that in contrast to other countries where gaming developed first and regulation second, Brazil has had to do the opposite – though it is important to note that, as mentioned above, a substantial grey market has existed for some time.
“We really had to work hard to be able to get this industry to be recognised, for a very simple reason – it was a lawless land, that was how the industry was being seen, because everyone was working illegally, and not because they wanted to. The private sector wanted to be seen with the seriousness it deserves.”
Stepping things up
Hindsight is a wonderful thing though, and Abreu thinks that there are some ‘imperfections’ in the Bets regulatory regime which need ironing out. Educational campaigns are a particular area of interest to the Senator.
These campaigns are needed to better educate players around responsible gaming while also fighting the ‘global problem’ of ‘prejudice’ Abreu believes the industry faces. He is also interested in tax reform, stating that the tax regime should ‘not to harm the sector too much’.
“Time will tell what changes will need to be made,” he continued. “We are going through a transition now, and of course there are side effects. We have to face the storm if we want to face the rainbow at the end of the storm.
“It needs to mature, that’s what we are looking at, and the official numbers are being revealed. This is one of the most relevant industries to Brazil, without forgoing other activities in Brazil, but the gaming industry has been placing Brazil at a position of protagonism at the global level.”
Political figures like Abreu clearly view the new gaming sector as playing a core role in Brazil’s development, providing a significant economic boost which will in turn help fund any geopolitical ambitions the government may have.
Industry expansion is also already on the cards. This is not just in the form of new market entrants, with hundreds of applications filed as noted above, but also expansion in terms of what the market can offer.
On the other side of the SBC Summit Rio, the Payment Expert Summit was taking place. At this event, several figures from both the gaming and payments fields projected that cryptocurrency will eventually play a role in the regulated market.
This would require a change in regulation, as crypto, credit and cash are banned as payment methods under the Bets regime, but stakeholders are confident that this could be on the cards.
Meanwhile, back on the regulatory panel, Abreu stated that ‘we are hopefully going to approve physical gaming’. Notably, the Senator has been working as the congressional rapporteur for the amendment to see Brazil’s betting market expand from online only to retail as well.
Above all of this though, the industry’s image is of paramount importance to both authorities and the betting companies themselves. Concerns around responsible gaming and player protection, sports integrity, and general corporate responsibility are prevalent across every betting market, and it is critical that Brazil gets it right from the outset to avoid some of the conflicts seen in mature sectors like the UK.
The Finance Ministry’s Olimpio summarised it well: “We are dealing with a scenario in which we need to generate trust on both sides – on the side of government and the side of society – when it comes to responsibility, the psychological health of players, and the sustainability of a market.”
