SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
A Brazilian Senator has suggested amendments to the country’s betting laws to outlaw advertising just a couple of months into the new regulated market’s existence.
Senator Styvenson Valentim, a member of the centre-right opposition party Podemos, proposed legislation this week to amend the 2018 laws around lotteries covering fixed-odds betting.
If approved, the amendment will ban the distribution of sports betting marketing across ‘any media’, though the terminology of the Senator’s draft bill seems to focus on broadcasting, so sports sponsorship may be left out.
Valentim has placed a concern for young people at the centre of his rationale for the proposed ban. The multi-billion reais betting industry has a strong appeal to younger demographics, he says, while arguing that Brazil’s established guidelines around betting marketing are being ‘repeatedly disregarded’ by bookmakers.
“This proposal is justified by the sudden change in the profile of gamblers, which is now made up mostly of young people, who have at their disposal, 24 hours a day, with just one click, the possibility of placing bets without any barrier to impulsive behaviour,” he said.
“In addition, we highlight the real possibility of targeted advertising, which is now made viable by the use of artificial intelligence.”
Brazil’s grey-white transition will not go unchallenged
Brazil’s fully-regulated betting market is barely three months old, having launched on 1 January 2024 under the new ‘Bets’ regulatory regime, underpinned by 2024 legislation. This further built on the 2018 law that Valentim is trying to amend.
Following the regulated market launch this year, Brazil’s betting industry is enjoying an eagerly anticipated boom with over 71 companies holding licences with the Ministry of Finance’s new betting regulator, the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA).
Further growth is expected, with the SPA detailing at the SBC Summit Rio earlier this month that it has received hundreds of licence applications. The market is also projected to generate turnover of US$34bn by 2028, according to industry data firm H2 Gambling Capital.
Brazil’s new licensed betting firms have highlighted confronting the lingering black and grey markets as a key priority, arguing that these firms cause harm to Brazilians and negatively impact the regulated market’s image.
In his proposed amendment, Valentim’s rhetoric mirrors that seen by betting law reform advocates in other countries – notably he has compared the need to better regulate gaming advertising with rules around tobacco advertising.
Summarising his argument, the Senator said: “We believe that, given the uncertainties surrounding the potential for damage to mental health and property caused by sports betting addictions, it is necessary to curb the reach of advertisements related to this economic activity.”
