Teams want to weigh in on sport betting taxation

Eight football teams in Brazil’s top division requested to be heard by the federal government as it prepares regulations for sports betting websites.

Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said on Monday that he estimates that taxes on sports betting could bring in between BRL 12 billion and BRL 15 billion (USD 2.3 billion to USD 3 billion) per year.

Sports gambling platforms operate in a legal gray area in Brazil, after being authorized by a 2018 provisional decree issued by former President Michel Temer and later enacted into law. The 2018 law stipulated that the Finance Ministry should provide regulation for sports betting within four years. That deadline expired on December 13 last year. 

Since the government has so far failed to provide regulation for betting platforms, the bookies are all officially based in foreign countries, despite airing ads in Brazil and sponsoring all 20 teams in Brazil’s top division.

“It is imperative that football clubs have direct participation in legislative discussions involving the regulation of the activity of electronic betting companies, allowing them to position themselves in a clear and public way about what they understand as fair and correct,” the statement says.

The list of signatories includes heavy-hitters Corinthians, Flamengo, Palmeiras and São Paulo, which are among Brazil’s wealthiest football clubs. 

In 2022, the Justice Ministry asked Brazil’s top broadcaster TV Globo and football teams and associations for clarification on sponsorship deals with betting platforms. According to the ministry’s consumer defense department, since the sector lacks regulation, contracts could be running without any accountability mechanisms to ensure, for example, that gamblers are protected and that tax is collected.

Separately, the Brazilian football association CBF has begun lobbying the Finance Ministry for a bigger slice of the revenue from taxes on sports betting. Organizations that license their brands to sports lottery games operated by government agencies get 1.63 percent of the net revenue from bets. CBF wants a 4 percent slice of the gross revenue.

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