The popularity of online gaming and betting in Brazil is increasing, and the country benefits from it. From the beginning of 2023 to November the players in Brazil spent about 54 billion reais (US$11.1 billion) on various online gaming and betting products.
Thriving market:
As the renowned Brazilian news portal Folha de S. Paulo reports, the data has come from the country’s Central Bank, and the number is known because of the revenue that foreign companies earned in Brazil during 11 months of 2023.
The Secretariat of Foreign Trade revealed interesting news: last year, the amount of money spent on gambling in Brazil surpassed the revenue from beef exports in the country. Beef exports earned USD$9.5 billion in 2023.
The revenue report that the Central Bank released was surprising: the country exceeded expectations and set new standards for the online gambling and betting industry in Brazil.
The earnings are split: about 43.3 billion reals, or US$8.9 billion, is used to create significant resources that will be further distributed to pay the winners the amounts they won. The second part of the total earnings, 10.7 billion reals, or US$2.2 billion, will be used to cover the service fees and taxes, and after the fees are covered, the operators will get the rest of the money.
It is expected that in the future the Brazilian market will become even more thriving, thanks to the legalization of online gambling. The experts expect that the figures will continue to grow and that online gambling will greatly contribute to it.
Vetoed bill and new regulatory body:
However, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a President of the state, sanctioned Bill PL 3626/2023 and created new regulations. The bill was related to sports betting and online casino operations, and according to it, the revenue tax was 12% for all online betting companies. The prizes the players get were set at 15% taxes, but Lula vetoed the decision to exclude the players who won up to R$2.112 a month from paying the taxes.
On top of that, it is expected that the new regulatory body, a National Gaming and Betting Secretariat (Secretaría de Apostas Esportivas), will be established soon, as it was revealed last week. The new body is supposed to be established and start working by the end of January, and its main mission will be to oversee the taxes and prevent money laundering and other criminal activities.
Members of the new body will be both people who are already employed in the public sector and will be moved from other departments in it, and various experts in the field found in the private sector.