Brazil: online sports betting operators could face two-year suspensions

Last week at the Online Gaming Summit —organized by Clarion in Sao Paulo— Waldir Marques, Subsecretary of SECAP, an agency of the Ministry of Economy, took part in a panel discussion on behalf of Alexandre Manoel Angelo da Silva, Head of Public Policies, Planning, Energy and Lottery at the Ministry of Economy.

After his talk, one of the attendees asked Marques whether the government would impose suspensions on those companies that are already taking sports bets and also wanted to enter the legal market. The subsecretary answered they were not planning to implement such a measure.

However, in an interview published by Games Magazine Brasil, Alexandre Manoel Angelo da Silva said: "The regulatory proposal would grant the regulator the authority to apply measures to punish illegal operators which include permanent or temporary suspensions. Some could even be prevented from obtaining a license for up to ten years. Suspensions could run for a 730-day period for those operators who operate sports betting illegally from the moment the legal market is opened in the country."

At the Online Gaming Summit, Waldir Marques emphasized that those companies that are currently operating sports betting when a law has been already enacted are considered illegal.