It took some time, but it happened. During the first months of the new Administration, President Lula and his ministers just didn’t have the iGaming industry and other forms of gaming such as land-based as a topic on their agenda.
It’s quite understandable, actually. The transition between the government of Bolsonaro and the new Presidential Administration of Lula was quite messy, as Bolsonaro and those close to him didn’t collaborate much in general. The transition cabinet which is a tradition in most democracies was almost inexistent, and the new Administration had to do a lot of the ‘homework’ after January 1st, when the new Administration began, while this kind of task is usually handled in December and part of November.
But the headline is Minister Haddad mentioned clearly that he intends to push sports betting and seemingly possibly other forms of gaming regulations to compensate for spending of the new Administration.
In clear terms, the Brazilian government is feeling like changing the Income Tax of private citizens, which will impact the tax revenue of the Brazilian IRS equivalent, the RFB (Receita Federal do Brasil).
The idea is to simply get some tax revenue from gaming activities and make the Brazilian government compensate for the losses in tax revenue.
While the idea sounds simple, in Brazil that’s not really the case. The time gap between seemingly simple ideas and actual change can be impressive.
We saw promises and ideas like this coming from top officials of the Bolsonaro government throughout his Administration and we all know nothing changed at all and the deadline for gaming regulations under the bill signed by former President Temer expired last December.
It is, however, a good sign to see Minister Haddad mentioning our industry and the plans to regulate the market, which can allow the arrival in Brazil of big international gaming industry protagonists that do not tolerate the idea of doing business in a grey market the way it is in 2023.
Or perhaps the best statement would be the way it still is in 2023. Brazil hasn’t seen regulations, not because of a lack of interest of both government and parts of the industry and parts of society like TV chains and soccer clubs that are relevant players in the business relationships with our industry, the problem is simple: lack of institutional organization and political cohesiveness from the politicians.
More promises or the industry simply being mentioned and discussed surely don’t solve the problem and bring the white market that most of us want. But it’s certainly better than being utterly ignored by a new government. Hopefully, a little step forward could have happened. As I often finish this publication, here I go again… Time will tell!
