Sports Betting Working Group Created In Brazil
Brazil’s Secretariat for Prizes and Betting (SPA) has set up a working group designed to keep a close eye on the newly regulated sports betting market.
Sports betting is newly regulated in the country of Brazil. © Marten Bjork, Unsplash
Key Facts:
- Brazil is among the latest countries to regulate sports betting
- Gambling is on the rise across the South America region
- Brazil’s SPA has created a working group to monitor the new sector
- The unit, which is named ‘GTI-Bets’, is a collaboration with the Federal Revenue Service
The South American country is among those to have recently decided that it will regulate the sports betting industry.
As a result, its regulated online gambling and sports betting market was formally launched on 1 January with the first 68 licences being approved.
The SPA confirmed that the new unit will be named GTI-Bets and has been created as a collaboration with the Federal Revenue Service.
Six-Month Period
Initially, GTI-Bets is set to run on a six-month basis and will comprise three members.
The SPA itself will put forward one of the trio, with another coming from the General Coordination for Research and Investigation of the Federal Revenue Service.
Lastly, the Subsecretariat for Auditing of the Federal Revenue Service will provide a nomination for a third member to join the working group.
The SPA also noted that the unit could be extended at the end of the six-month period. Monthly updates will be provided during the initial trial of GTI-Bets.
SPA president Regis Dudena and Brazil’s deputy of the Ministry of Finance, Robinson Sakiyama Barreirinhas, signed the ordinance.
The new unit will aim to keep a close eye on potential illegal activity within the sector. Instances of illegal activity that will be monitored are money laundering and unlicensed operations.
A statement said: “GTI-Bets may request information directly from any unit of the Ministry of Finance, within its respective attributions and competences.”
The State of the Brazillian Market
So far, Brazil has granted licence authorisations to 70 businesses and 14 of them came into force at the start of the year.
Others are awaiting regulatory approval, with the sports betting sector in the country expected to expand at a rapid rate as a result.
A concession fee of R$30 million (around €4.7 million) has to be paid to secure the licence, with Brazil expecting to bring in over R$2.1 billion (€320 million) through issuing new licences.
Along with Brazil, nearby countries such as Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Argentina have made moves to provide regulation for the sports betting industry.
