This Tuesday (12) the Senate installed a CPI to investigate the activities of online betting platforms in the country – the so-called “bets” – and influencers who advertise for them. The request from Senator Soraya Thronicke (Podemos-MS) also envisages investigating a possible connection with criminal organizations for the practice of money laundering.
The commission will have the senator herself as rapporteur and will be chaired by senator Dr. Hiram (PP-RR), expected to last 130 days. Soraya Thronicke says that there is already a list of at least 99 requests for subpoenas, statements and information taking.
“If it is necessary, until the end of the year, we hold two or three meetings in a week, we will do so, precisely because of the gravity and the scale that this situation has taken in our country. It’s really scary. And we want to deliver a solid but quick response to Brazilian society”, said the senator.
According to her, this number of potential players is due to the seriousness that online betting is taking in Brazil. For the senator, betting sites “are manipulated so that the person starts winning and, after becoming addicted and completely in debt, they start losing”.
This, he says, directly affects the budget of Brazilian families, as already shown in studies by market consultancies. The work plan also envisages drawing up a diagnosis of the current situation, identifying possible flaws in the regulation and supervision of betting platforms.
“We will try to address this issue as broadly as possible, trying to create a safe environment in Brazil for this activity, which is a recreational activity and not a way to make money, to improve your life. We have to have control, protect the most humble people, who already have difficulty surviving and receive government aid who end up using this aid to bet on this game that has turned our country around”, said Dr. Hiram.
The CPI will work on eight axes, such as money laundering and currency evasion, consumer rights, financial transactions, socioeconomic impacts, advertising and social responsibility, algorithms and transparency on platforms, education and awareness and impacts on health.
“We list all the aspects: the responsibility of influencers, organized crime, currency evasion, how much is lost”, added Soraya.
Data from the Central Bank shows that, in August alone, R$21 billion was spent on betting.
In addition to the betting CPI, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) filed on Monday (11) a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) with the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to suspend the laws and ordinances that regulate betting in Brazil. Attorney General Paulo Gonet Branco stated that the approved legislation “is insufficient to protect the fundamental rights of consumers, given the predatory nature of the virtual betting market”.
“Furthermore, it disregards the constitutional imposition of granting public services by concession or permission, through bidding. It also deviates from constitutional restrictions on the advertising of products that pose a high risk to health”, he pointed out,
Still according to Gonet, the regulation of bets conflicts with principles of the economic order and the internal market, in addition to ignoring constitutional restrictions on the advertising of products with a high risk to health.
