Brazil's Economy Ministry seeks to set online sports betting rules before July

Waldir Eustáquio Marques Jr. told O Estado de S.Paulo on Monday that "sports betting has some peculiarities, different from traditional lotteries, and includes much stronger technology requirements, which must be studied quite a bit, such as the integrity of the sport, the prevention of money laundering, the prevention of pathologies among vulnerable players.”

The government official has worked in the sector for 13 years, and in February last year, he replaced Alexandre Manoel in the Secap-ME.

The Planalto Palace estimates that it can raise between R$ 4,000 million and R$ 10,000 million (USD 740 M - USD 1.85 B) only via the regulation of wagering, without taking into account the taxation on the business.

According to Marques, the previous administration came very close to approving a regime that contemplated the possibility for companies to run bets through the authorization model. Now, the Secap is working with the concession model. “We were very close. The secretariat was working hard on the authorization system. And, in this matter, we see some points that could be harmful. So we had to stop, review the model, in order to be able to proceed safely,” the undersecretary said.