On May 29, the Sports Events Commission of the Brazilian Bar Association of the State of Rio de Janeiro (OABRJ) held the event “The impacts of the regulation of sports betting for the sports market.” Alexandre Tauszig, Business Developer of PayBrokers, participated in the meeting, where the growth of sports betting platforms and their possible effects on sports were discussed.
In his participation, Tauszig commented that payment methods can be an “excellent governance tool for the State, allowing responsible gambling and offering tools to combat money laundering.” At the same time, these tools can be a significant source of information to combat outcome manipulation fraud in sports betting.
Alexandre Tauszig
Aside from the PayBrokers executive, senator Carlos Portinho, Santa Casa Cap’s legal director, João Motta; and the commission’s vice-president, Wagner Botelho, also participated in the debate, led by the president of OABRJ’s Sports Events Commission, Dário Corrêa.
Portinho, from the Brazilian Liberal Party, gave the opening speech and stated: “In an environment with consolidated betting, any mistake on the field generates the suspicion that players may be giving the game away. This is bad for the athletes and for the sport. But that doesn’t matter anymore. Betting platforms are already part of the soccer universe; they are already on the uniforms of all clubs and sponsoring all tournaments.”
The panel ended with the intervention of Sérgio Antunes, president of the Brazilian Institute for the Defense of Consumers and Workers (Abradecont), who suggested the adoption of a broad package of measures to address the sportsbook issue.
“I think that here it was clear that a package of measures is needed, including the awareness of athletes and the professionalization of referees. Of course, behaviors outside the law must be punished, but it is important to see that the problem is not always there. An interesting idea would be to follow the French model, in which the type of betting is controlled, the advertising of sportsbooks is quite restricted, and the licenses to operate in the market are granted by a regulatory agency”, Antunes concluded.