Sports betting and online gaming companies earned R$ 17.4 billion in Brazil from January to June this year, according to data from the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) of the Ministry of Finance.
The first survey in the country with information on the regulated betting market, obtained by Brazilian news outlet Folha, shows the size of the online market.
Secretary of the SPA Regis Dudena stated that 17.7 million Brazilians take part in betting in the country, with the majority being men (71.1%) and about half in the age group of up to 30 years. The average spending per active bettor is around R$ 983 per semester (approximately R$ 164 per month).
Dudena pointed out that there has been uncontrolled growth in these games due to the lack of initiative from previous governments and that, with the recent regulation of the market, “the Brazilian state has taken control of this sector back.”
“The lack of control that occurred from 2019 to 2022 is largely responsible for the problems we face today. It is our job now to clean up the mess. We need to sort this out.”
According to Dudena this is first time that this data is being publicly released. “The SPA receives daily reports from all online gambling operators that tell us who the bettors are, how much they deposited, how much they bet, and how much they won. This generates a large amount of data,” he said.
The official also discussed a number of other topics including fines and sanctions on unauthorised operators.
“We have had some specific sanctions, mainly relating to the offering of unauthorized bets. These have not yet been disclosed because they are in the appeals process, so we must wait for the administrative appeals to conclude, but all punishments and penalties applied will be disclosed.”
When asked about how the Ministry of Finance identifies illegal betting operations, and what sanctions are imposed on these companies he said: “Most social problems related to mental health and financial wellbeing stem from illegal betting activities. Since last year, we’ve noticed an increase in illegal betting operations, so we’ve initiated a process to identify these websites through online monitoring and their subsequent shutdown. Financial institutions are prohibited from processing transactions for illegal sites. We also report this information to the Federal Police and the Central Bank.”
The post Online gambling companies earned R$ 17.4 billion in Brazil from January to June appeared first on G3 Newswire.
Sports betting and online gaming companies earned R$ 17.4 billion in Brazil from January to June this year, according to data from the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) of the Ministry of Finance. The first survey in the country with information on the regulated betting market, obtained by Brazilian news outlet Folha, shows the…
The post Online gambling companies earned R$ 17.4 billion in Brazil from January to June appeared first on G3 Newswire.