Brazil bills call for spending caps among various vulnerable groups

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 caps could relate to a player’s declared income. Players could also face a complete ban on betting transactions.

Nascimento’s PL 3,745/2024 is similarly looking to limit betting spend to 15% of monthly income. It also aims to ban betting between 9pm and 6am for those that are considered at “high risk of addiction and pathological gambling disorders”.

President Lula expected to enforce betting restrictions this week

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will reportedly make an announcement this week on a raft of measures that will likely alleviate some of the concerns raised.

Among the speculated topics of Lula’s announcement are further regulations around advertising and the restriction of betting among those who receive money from Bolsa Família, a government social welfare programme.

Additionally, it’s also been rumoured Lula will bring forward the ban on using credit cards for gambling, which is currently set to come in from the legal betting launch date in January.

It’s worth noting the ANJL and Brazilian Institute for Responsible Gaming (IBJR) have already advised their members to expedite the ban on using credit, with the IBJR claiming all of its members have agreed to do so.

Brazil gambling sector under fire

The new bills come amid rising pressure from government officials and other sectors, particularly retail. Various recent studies have flagged betting as problematic in Brazil, with one carried out by the Brazilian Society of Retail and Consumption (SBVC) suggesting bettors were gambling money needed for clothes and healthcare.

Despite its very small sample size and controversial findings, the study received significant media coverage and triggered concern among public officials.

Another major point of contention is illegal gambling. Recent data from Yield Sec indicated that onshore operators may account for just 9% of Brazil’s total online gambling market.

New October deadline

Earlier this month, the Brazil government announced that only operators already active in the country that have applied for a licence can continue to operate from 1 October.

Active operators have until 11:59pm local time tonight (30 September) to submit a licence application to avoid being blocked. They must inform the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA), which sits within the Ministry of Finance, which brands the wish to operate during the transition period of 1 October to 31 December.

Operators that do not satisfy those requirements must give players a 10-day window to withdraw funds, before shutting down their operations.

Eduardo Carvalhaes and Karen Coutinho, lawyers at the Brazilian law firm Lefosse, believe the deadline will ease concerns among those companies seeking a licence as it should rid of the market of illegal operators.

“The market expectation is that this measure will bring forward the removal of non-compliant companies from 1 January 2025 to 1 October,” Carvalhaes and Coutinho told iGB.