Operator News
Brazil – Reduced tax on player winnings will bring players to regulated market argues senator
By James - 7 November 2023
Senator Angelo Coronel will present the new text of the sports betting bill at the Economic Affairs Committee (CAE) today. According to local press he will make some changes in relation to the original text of PL 3,626/2023 authored by the Executive Branch which was later approved by the Chamber of Deputies.
The bill is being processed simultaneously by the Economic Affairs Committee (CAE) under the rapporteurship of Senator Angelo Coronel and the Sports Committee (CEsp) under Senator Romário. After passing through the two committees, the text will go to the Senate Plenary.
One of the changes to the text is the duration of licenses. The initial proposal provided for the payment of up to R$30 million to grant the license for a period of three years. Coronel, in his report, is increasing this operating period to five years, and will grant licence holders permission to operate up to two betting sites.
Another change covers the taxation both on the profit earned by the bettor and on the amount bet.
“If you bet a thousand reais, and the game pays 1.5 thousand, theoretically you will receive the thousand you bet and 500 of the capital gain. The Chamber was taxing both capital gains and invested capital. We are going to change this so that the rate only applies to capital gains. It was a mistake on the part of the Chamber that we will correct. In other words, we are reducing the taxation on the profit made on the bet from 30%, as stated by the Chamber, to 15%”, explained the senator.
The rapporteur went onto say that there are an estimated 10 thousand betting sites in Brazil. For the senator, it would be unfeasible for many of these companies to pay the R$30 million in licence fees and therefore it is possible that several betting houses will continue to operate illegally.
The lawmaker argued that reducing the taxes on players will drive play to authorised online platforms.
“This way, people will play on the website approved by the government, with their concession validated, and with this the government will raise more money by having more players on the official websites,” he said.
