At a meeting of the Standing Committee on Sports Betting Regulation, government officials and representatives of the sports betting industry discussed combating the illegal betting market. The meeting focused on reviewing the Bill No. 2842/2023 proposed by Federal Congressman Ricardo Aires (Republican-Torola), which aims to prohibit betting on individual events in sports matches (such as red and yellow cards, corners, and fouls).
According to Agence France-Presse, the coordinator of gambling monitoring at the Treasury, Leticia Soeiro, believes that while banning isolated match betting might reduce the risk of match-fixing, it could also weaken the appeal of the legal market, thereby forcing some players to turn to illegal platforms.
Soeiro noted: "This point needs careful analysis. Regulatory authorities require operators to develop anti-tampering policies and prove their connection with independent sports integrity monitoring bodies to reduce risks."
The president of the Association of Betting and Fantasy Sports (ABFS), Rafael Marcondes, added that 90% of match-fixing cases involve bets on the final results of matches, while secondary markets like corners and cards only account for 13% of fraud cases. He pointed out: "Even if Brazil bans these secondary market bets, such activities may still continue on international websites."
A representative from Genius Sports, Tiago Barbosa, stated that about 70% to 80% of sports betting in Brazil occurs in the illegal market. In the regulated market, banning certain types of bets would only affect 20% to 30% of activities.
The National Secretary for Sports Betting and Economic Development at the Ministry of Sports, Giovanni Rocco Neto, emphasized: "The problem of gambling cannot be solved by a single measure. Apart from police actions, we can only use technological means to track illegal gambling funds, as some criminal activities are protected."
This meeting shows that the Brazilian government and industry representatives still face complex challenges in balancing sports integrity, legal market development, and combating illegal gambling.
