Lack of Regulation Led Brazil to Betting Scandal, Say Organizations

Industry groups have criticized the delay in defining rules for the practice in the country

São Paulo

The match-fixing scandal that has shaken Brazilian football has not surprised organizations and representatives of the sports betting sector.

For them, Brazil's delay in regulating the legalized practice since 2018 has created a fertile ground for fraud and corruption, as the ongoing investigation by the Prosecution Service of Goiás has shown.

Sanctioned by Michel Temer, law 13,756 was shelved for four years, without regulation, during the government of Jair Bolsonaro.

"What is happening is due to the fact that the previous government did not regulate sports betting because it treated betting as a matter of customs and not as an economic activity", says Magno José Santos de Sousa, president of the IJL (Brazilian Institute of Legal Gambling).

With ads on TV, radio, internet, and stadium, and increasingly present on team shirts, bookmakers handled BRL 4.5 billion in 2022, 44.4% more than in 2021, according to data from H2 Gambling Capital.

It is estimated that more than 600 companies in the field operate in the country. At the moment, they operate without a local representation, generally based in tax havens, without collecting taxes for Brazil.

The lack of clear rules and a regulatory organ has favored the emergence of manipulation schemes.

Translated by Cassy Dias

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