Brazil’s Ministry of Justice is expected to put a proposal to the Brazilian government to regulate sports betting, as it has evolved into a widespread issue in the country. The move could lead to more regulation in the country around sports betting.
José Francisco Manssur, special adviser to the executive secretariat of Brazil’s Ministry of Finance, is expected to put forward the proposal, according to the blog of Brazilian sports journalist Juca Kfouri.
Luiz Felipe Maia, lawyer and partner at Maia Yoshiyasu Advogados said: “Without regulation, and with such a huge amount of betting operations from offshore, the Brazilian leagues are an easy prey for fraudsters,” says Felipe Maia. “It was a matter of time until it created a series of scandals that could result either in the regulation or the shut down of the market.”
“The minister of finance, Fernando Haddad, is under a lot of pressure to look for new sources of revenue for the government. The regulation of sports betting comes in good time.”
Neil Montgomery, founding and managing partner of the Brazil-facing Montgomery & Associados law firm says that it is widely expected that the Brazilian PM will amend the country’s sports betting law to add regulation such as safeguards and penalties.
“It can potentially also amend other federal laws, including the anachronic Criminal Contraventions Law, which contains the general prohibitions on games of chance in Brazil,” says Montgomery.
