News | New Ordinance establishes the regulation for sports betting

On October 27, 2023, the Brazilian Ministry of Finance published, in the Official Federal Gazette, Ordinance No. 1,330/2023, which provides for the general conditions for the commercial exploitation of sports betting in Brazil, under the terms of Law No. 13,756/2018 and the changes to Provisional Measure No. 1,182/2023.

The Ordinance establishes that the commercial exploitation of sports betting is limited to national or foreign legal entities, duly established in the national territory, provided they meet all requirements of the new Ordinance, of Law No. 13,756/2018, and other current regulations. Authorization must be preceded by (I) legal authorization; (II) tax and labor regularity; (III) economic-financial qualification; and (IV) technical qualification.

Foreign companies will be able to exploit this particular betting modality, as long as they have a subsidiary in Brazil and prove that they comply with all the provisions of specific regulation, which include, but are not limited to: (I) having the main corporate purpose of operating fixed-odds sports betting; (II) prove its regular constitution according to Brazilian laws, with headquarters and administration in the country, observing the provisions of § 3 of art. 5 of this Ordinance; (III) prove the legal origin of the resources that make up the share capital; (IV) demonstrate the suitability of the company’s legal representatives, partners, final beneficiaries, and holders of strategic positions, in accordance with specific regulations.

Article 7 of the Ordinance defines the people and companies to which authorization will not be granted, which include, but are not limited to: (I) natural persons; (II) legal entities that do not meet the requirements established in this Ordinance and the specific regulations issued by the competent technical area of the Ministry of Finance; (III) legal entities whose controlling partners or shareholders, individuals or members of a control agreement, directors and other people that make up their corporate structure hold direct or indirect participation in a Football Corporation or professional sports organization.

Through the Ordinance, the Ministry of Finance also committed to keeping the list of companies authorized to operate the fixed-odds betting modality updated.

The Ordinance also provides guidelines to ensure responsible betting, among which the following stand out:

• The commercialization of bets and prizes payments only to people over 18 years;
• Complete identification of the bettor;
• Awareness on the part of the fixed betting operator of informative and preventive actions regarding compulsive or pathological gambling;
• Provision of mechanisms that allow the operator to establish a daily time limit for bets, maximum loss limit, pause period and self-exclusion.

The Ordinance also establishes that the operators’ communication and marketing actions must be based on social responsibility and awareness of responsible gambling, with warnings about the harmful effects of gambling and the display of the message “Play Responsibly”.

For reading the complete Ordinance (in Portuguese), please access https://www.in.gov.br/en/web/dou/-/portaria-normativa-mf-n-1.330-de-26-de-outubro-de-2023-519161250

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