This week’s topics: online gambling trapped in a regulatory wormhole; a new marketplace for consumers with disabilities; venture capital gaining steam in Brazil.

Unregulated online gambling already big business in Brazil

Brazil outlawed gambling in 1946, a rule which remained unwaveringly in force until legislation opened up to sports betting in 2018. Since then, however, gambling companies have been operating in the country almost completely without regulation.

Gambling jungle. A survey commissioned by Playtech, which produces gambling software, shows that uncertainty about how to safely bet online is a major deterrent for 39 percent of gamblers. 

• In addition, 55 percent of potential gamblers said they would feel more confident about betting online if they had more information about companies; another 51 percent said they would like to see protection tools put in place for gamblers.
• “Brazil already has a massive market for online sports gambling,” Francesco Rodano, Playtech’s policy director, tells The Brazilian Report in what is the company’s first interview in Brazil. 
• “It is massive in part because of its large population, widely accessible internet, and a certain passion for sports, such as football.”  

Regulation. For decades, the only form of legal gambling in Brazil was the federal lottery and pools operated by public bank Caixa. From 2018 onwards, however, the need for regulation for online gambling began to be discussed, but only for sports betting.

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