Tag: regulation

Brazil bills call for spending caps among various vulnerable groups

Two new bills in Brazil aim to curb addiction and prevent gambling harms by limiting how much vulnerable groups can bet. These include the elderly and those receiving financial benefits. President Lula is expected to address these measures later this week.
Ahead of the licensed betting market’s launch on 1 January 2025, various government officials have raised concerns about the harmful social and fiscal impacts gambling could have on Brazilians.

PL 3,718/2024, presented by Senator Alessandro Vieira, and Congressman Elmar Nascimento’s PL 3,745/2024, both seek to limit how much various vulnerable members of society can gamble. Both bills were presented late last week on 26 and 27 of September.

PL 3,718/2024 would limit betting among the elderly, those registered in the active debt or credit protection registry and low-income families on the government’s CadÚnico social welfare programme.

Spending caps would be enforced once a certain amount of money is lost via betting. Additional ..

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Brazil’s IBJR members agree to expedite credit card ban to October

The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR) have both advised their members to bring forward their ban on gambling with credit cards. All of the IBJR's members have agreed to expedite the ban.
Published in April, Normative Ordinance No 615 banned the use of credit cards, crypto, cash, payment slips or cheques for betting when the legal Brazil online betting market goes live on 1 January 2025.

However only companies already active in Brazil that have applied for a betting licence will be able to continue operating from 1 October.

Both the ANJL and IBJR have urged their respective members to voluntarily bring forward the prohibition of credit cards after discussions with the ministry of finance. For the IBJR, which claims its members account for around 70% of the betting market in Brazil, the move is aligned with its wider objective to secure a safe betting market in the country.

Notably, the ANJL said almost a..

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Grupo Silvio Santos partners OpenBet for new betting brand in Brazil

Grupo Silvio Santos has announced it will partner with OpenBet for the launch of its Todos Querem Jogar (TQJ) venture in Brazil, deploying the provider’s end-to-end betting ecosystem.
The new long-term agreement will see Grupo Silvio Santos, a conglomerate that includes the Brazilian Television Network (SBT), offer OpenBet’s responsible gambling technology, its player account management (PAM) system and its managed trading services.

Grupo Silvio Santos applied for a licence on 19 August, the day before the 20 August deadline for the initial 90-day window of preference. Operators that applied for a licence during that period will be guaranteed to have their applications processed by the legal market launch date of 1 January 2025.

The TQJ platform will aim to leverage Grupo Silvio Santos’ extensive media reach, with the conglomerate claiming its shows on SBT reach over 113 million Brazilians every month with an average per day viewership exceeding 29 million.

José Roberto Maciel, Grup..

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ICO investigates Sky Bet for unlawfully processing player data

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has reprimanded Bonne Terre Limited, trading as Sky Betting and Gaming, for an outdated cookie policy that players couldn't opt out of.
The ICO found Sky Bet had used cookies to collect player data and share it with various marketing platforms before players were able to provide their consent and opt in or out of advertising cookies.

A complaint from campaign group Clean Up Gambling was submitted to the ICO, sparking an investigation into whether the Flutter business was deliberately misusing personal data to target vulnerable gamblers.

While Sky Bet was found to have processed data in a way that was “not lawful, transparent or fair”, the ICO said it found no evidence of deliberate misuse.

ICO deputy commissioner Stephen Bonner believes the case should be a lesson to gambling operators as she urged them to reconsider how they process player data.

“Our enforcement action against Sky Betting and Gaming is a warning that there will be..

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Apuesta Total CEO warns against reintroduction of consumption tax on Peru gambling

Apuesta Total CEO Gonzalo Perez has warned the Peru government against the introduction of a consumption tax on gambling operators.
Law no 31557, which looked to regulate online gaming and sports betting in Peru, came into effect on 9 February. This sets out a tax of 12% on gross gaming revenue (GGR), although legislation originally included a 1% tax on the value of every bet, or consumption tax.

That 1% consumption tax was removed from legislation in July 2021. However the Peru congress is now discussing its reintroduction, with the potential rate not yet confirmed.

Perez fears this could be hugely detrimental to the licensed gambling industry and is urging the government to reconsider. “The consumption tax is, depending of course on the percentage they will apply and depending on the base fee, very harmful for us,” Perez tells iGB. “We are trying to reach the government to talk, to explain the possible impact.

“The proposed 1% consumption tax discussed in congress was crazy beca..

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Apuesta Total CEO: There isn’t room for everyone in Peru’s regulated market

Apuesta Total CEO Gonzalo Perez expects three or four operators will dominate the newly-regulated online market in Peru, while the remaining brands will fight for single-digit market share.
Law no 31557 came into effect in Peru on 9 February of this year as the government sought to regulate online gaming and sports betting in the country.

Operators active in Peru before the announcement had until 10 March to submit a licence application. Gambling regulator Mincetur warned those who did not comply could face a fine of up to Sol990,000 (€245,394/£212,401/$257,838) or criminal prosecution.

According to the law, Mincetur will process licence applications within 30 business days of submission. Perez said operators have a 15 November deadline to submit final certifications for their platform and content. Failing to meet that deadline could result in authorisation being revoked.

During that initial window in March, 145 licence requests were submitted. Meanwhile new entrants to Peru were g..

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Betano leading in Brazil with 23% of grey betting market share ahead of Bet365

Betano is currently leading the way in Brazil with a 23% share of the grey wagering market, a new white paper from OpenBet has indicated using research from global industry data consultancy H2 Gambling Capital.
Offering exclusive data analytics and projections from H2GC, the OpenBet report revealed Betano 23%of the Brazil betting market, with Bet365 following closely behind with a 20% share.

However, the report also outlined that with the legal market set to launch on 1 January 2025, the Brazilian industry will be increasingly competitive as local brands as well as a raft of international brands seek to get their share of an onshore market that H2GC predicts could reach $10.1bn (£7.7bn/€9.2bn) in gross gaming revenue (GGR) by 2029.

That would represent growth of nearly double, with H2GC estimating Brazil’s legalonline sports betting and igaming market will be worth around $5.6bn in 2025 GGR.Around $3bn of that will come from online sports betting, with igaming responsible for $2.6bn…

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Weekend Report: Brazil names betting chief, Bet365 fined in NJ

Welcome to the Weekend Report, where iGB covers the news that you may have missed over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This week, we look at a letter calling for Austrian gambling reform and Bet365 getting fined in New Jersey.
New secretary of sports betting named in Brazil
In this week’s Weekend Report, Giovanni Rocco Neto, previously a counsellor in Brazil’s ministry of sport, will oversee the promulgation of rules and wagering launch in Brazil, reports Insider Sport. Legal, live sports betting is set to launch in January and 114 operators have applied for licences. Neto will report to sports minister André Fufuca and will be independent of the secretariat of prizes and betting. His new title is national secretary of sports betting for the economic development of sport.

In his last role, he was the chair of the committee of integrity, rights and duties in betting and gaming.

NJ regulator fines Bet365
The New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) last week fined UK-based Bet3..

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Brazil government preparing heavy crackdown on illegal betting payments

Pay4Fun director Ari Celia tells iGB Brazil's ministry of finance has established a new department to target black market operators. He expects Pix blocking efforts to be successful.
Brazil’s government is implementing hefty measures to prevent illegal operators from processing payments ahead of the legal betting market’s launch on 1 January 2025.

The government’s ministry of finance is setting up a team of eight civil servants who will specifically work on preventing illegal sites from taking and receiving payments, according to Celia.

The team will process complaints from the sector and seek to punish unlicensed payment providers and illegal sites.

Blocking Pix payments will be successful
One measure the government has publicly announced is blocking payments involving illegal operators made via Pix, an instant payment service controlled by the Central Bank of Brazil which the majority of the betting market uses.

Regulators in other markets like Germany and across Europe..

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Federal Revenue Service to address Brazil sports betting tax concerns at CPI hearing

Special secretary of Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service Robinson Barreirinhas will appear in front of the parliamentary commission inquiry (CPI) on match-fixing to explain how sports betting tax from companies abroad will be kept in Brazil.
The special secretary will appear at the request of Carlos Portinho, who is looking to clarify how tax payments will be made across borders.

Barreirinhas will be heard this Wednesday (4 September) by the CPI on manipulation, which was set up in April to counter match-fixing on sports betting in Brazil.

As set out in Normative Ordinance No 827, operators must have a headquarters on Brazilian soil. Foreign companies are still eligible for a licence, although they must have a local subsidiary of which a Brazilian owns at least 20% of the share capital.

Businesses must also provide a joint certificate from the special secretariat of federal revenue and the attorney-general’s office of the national treasury to show they are registered to pay tax in the ..

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Does Flamengo’s Flabet set a blueprint for sports teams to become betting operators?

Brazilian football club Flamengo’s new Flabet sportsbook could set a trend for other teams to become operators, according to two lawyers from Bichara e Motta Advogados.
Udo Seckelmann and Pedro Heitor de Araújo, who work in the gambling & crypto practice of Brazilian law firm Bichara e Motta Advogados, say other clubs may adopt a similar model to grow revenue.

Earlier this month, Flamengo revealed plans to launch Flabet with Pixbet, the club’s master sponsor, managing the brand. Essentially the arm’s-length agreement allows the operator to become an active participant in Brazil’s sports betting market, rather than only generating revenue through sponsorship.

The Flabet agreement lasts until 2027, with Pixbet paying Flamengo a minimum amount of BRL82.5m (£11.1m/€13.2m/$14.7m) over that timespan. The club will receive BRL10m in 2024, BRL22.5m in 2025 and then BRL25m in both 2026 and 2027.

Additionally, the club could receive a royalty fee of 1% of gross gaming revenue (GGR) if that ..

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Survey estimates 10% of Brazil population has suffered gambling-related financial issues

A survey by market research specialist Hibou has revealed 10% of the population in Brazil has endured financial problems from gambling ahead of regulation coming into force.
The survey, which included 2,839 respondents in Brazil from all social classes, studied the prevalence of gambling in the population.

The study found 68% of Brazilians gamble, with around 16% of respondents stating they had suffered from financial issues due to their gambling.

Is pre-regulation gambling causing social issues?
That equates to around 10% of the Brazilian population. While this may cause concern it is important to note it covers a period before the legal online market launches. The first legal bets will be placed on 1 January 2025, with 113 operators applying for a licence during the initial 90-day window of preference.

Of those who had endured financial problems from gambling, 32% stated they had sold assets to make up for their losses. Additionally, 29% borrowed from friends or family, while 25% ..

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