Regulated sports betting in Brazil was once again set back “to square one” with the outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro exiting without signing Brazil’s long awaited sports betting regulations before the deadline of the 12th of December.
Regulated sports betting in Brazil is a long and troubled road, that involves various setbacks including the passing of Federal Law No. 13,756/2018 to legalise fixed-odds sports betting for land-based and online casinos in 2018, but a lack of regulation has caused trouble in the market. The Brazilian government was then given two years to get regulations signed off, with the option of an extension of a further two years, which brings us to now.
With the deadline passed, plans for regulated sports betting has been set back to square one. International operators licensed overseas are continuing to be tolerated but there is no path for Brazilian-owned betting businesses.
“Today, international sports betting operators create products related to Brazilian sports and for local consumers to place their bets, but for all intents and purposes, it is as if they were doing a legal business or contracting with a foreign company. Therefore, the applicable legislation is the foreign one, and if there is no regulation, nothing changes,” said lawyer Luiz Marcondes, who is a professor of sports law and honorary president of Brazil’s Ibero-American Institute of Sports Law.
