24 million of Brazil’s 212m citizens gamble online
The government of Brazilian has begun closing down several betting sites in the South American country.
As at last count, more than 2.000 betting sites, including those that sponsor popular football teams, Corinthians, and other first-division clubs, have been closed down.
According to Brazil’s Finance Minister, Fernando Haddad, the country, which is Latin America’s biggest economy, is battling a betting “pandemic,” prompting the government to tighten the screws on the sector.
The government has warned sites that failed to sign up to new regulations due to take effect in January.
The new rules seek to combat fraud and money laundering and protect users, by, for example banning minors from betting.
The country is making the moves as part of a push to regulate online gambling.
In 2018, Brazil legalized sports betting sites, a move that led to gambling operating in a regulatory free-for-all, especially as there were virtually no taxes paid.
Aside from betting on sports, gambling in Brazil has taken a new turn, with gambling on games like Aviator, where players gamble on the flight of a virtual airplane, or the online casino game Fortune Tiger.
Most prominent on the blacklist is Esportes da Sorte, which sponsors Corinthians, one of Brazil’s most popular football clubs, as well as Athletico Paranaense, Bahia and Gremio de Porto Alegre.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration said the betting sites would be blocked and banned from advertising, and sponsoring football clubs.
More than 200 other sites will be allowed to continue to operate after agreeing to the new rules.
Brazil’s central bank estimates that 24 million out of Brazil’s 212 million inhabitants, roughly one in nine people, gamble online.
Lula warned recently that betting was causing many low-income Brazilians to get into debt.
Haddad said on Friday, “Anyone who is not regularized, or in the process of being regularized, is being taken off the air.”
The finance ministry said it had identified 2,040 “suspicious domains” which it had asked the telecoms regulatory agency Anatel to block.
