The Brazilian Secretariat of Evaluation, Planning, Energy and Lottery (SECAP) has published its rules for sports betting within Brazil. The highlights include a BRL 22.2 million license fee (or £3.6m, €4.2m USD $4.4m) and a deadline of six months. Operators who are already doing business in Brazil are expected to adhere to these rules within the six months deadline, as overseen by the Ministry of Economy, which is acting as regulator.
There is also no limit on the number of licenses that can be distributed and licenses will last five years. However, operators who are based abroad must set up subsidiaries in Brazil and have “sufficient capital and economic financial capacity” if they are to operate within Brazil.
The bill also outlines what “sufficient” means. To be considered sufficient relies on the relationship between the share capital and the number of bets it takes, rather than the bill setting a minimum amount of capital to gain.
Is it a good market?
Brazilian locals are, famously, massive fans of a lot of sports. The initial sport that comes to mind is football, or soccer, which the national team excels at. It is considered the most popular sport in Brazil, but there are also sports like martial arts, volleyball, basketball, F1, and tennis considered amongst the most popular sports in the country.
This makes the Brazilian sports market prime for sports betting, as the fans are known to be highly invested in their teams.
