Fernando Haddad: "Brazilian government to regulate online gaming in March"

The Brazilian Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, said on Wednesday that the Federal Government "will regulate online games in the month of March" to collect income and compensate for the changes made in the Income Tax (IR).

A source from the Ministry explained to Reuters that the measure will reach online casinos and sports betting companies. "We will regulate (online gambling). We readjusted the IR (Income Tax) table, and this generated a small loss in collection. We will compensate with the taxation of these electronic games, which do not pay any tax and take a fortune of money from the country," said the minister in an interview with the portal UOL.

Meanwhile, President Lula announced that in May he will increase the income tax exemption on those who collect up to 2,640 reais ($507.8) per month. The measure will generate a drop of 3.2 billion reais ($615.5 million) in public coffers in 2023 and 6 billion reais ($1.1 billion) in 2024. "In March, we will regulate (the items). We will send it to the Civil House, and obviously, the ministries involved will be called, but it is a prerogative of the Treasury. I have already talked to President (Lula) about it, and he is in favor of it. All over the world, (electronic) games are taxed," Haddad said.

The numbers on the expected collection with the new tax are not yet finalized, but the minister said that "billions of reais" are involved.

"The figures vary a lot. It is one of the problems we have to find out better. We are working on it. The Internal Revenue Service and the Secretariat of Economic Reform are estimating the collections, and the numbers do not converge. The model is ready, but a more precise estimate is needed. But it is something in the billions, not many, but a few," Haddad pointed out a few days ago.