.svg)
Brazil’s chief consumer watchdog is preparing to demand that Brazil’s 96 whitelisted online betting companies submit legal justification for any bonuses they are offering to players.
According to the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, the National Consumer Secretary, Wadih Damous, has told his colleagues that all online gambling bonuses should be prohibited in Brazil due to language in 2023’s Law 14.790 that bans any “bonuses or prior advantages, even if merely by way of promotion, publicity or advertising, for placing a bet”.
Damous also reportedly said that although he is committed to working with other ministries and government agencies on the issue of bonuses, he believes that immediate action is needed to prohibit them.
The scope of Law 14.790’s ban on bonuses has been a point of contention throughout Brazil’s regulatory process.
In an update to its FAQ page on Thursday (Oct 10), the Ministry of Finance’s Secretariat of Bets and Prizes (SPA) provided belated guidance on what sorts of bonuses it believes are allowed per the law.
Deposit or welcome bonuses are expressly disallowed in Law 14.790, according to the regulator, but officials said they will allow “benefits attributed to the bettor in the form of money, points, free bets or other legal forms, provided that the bettor is part of a loyalty program or the reward recognises the bettor’s previous activities”.
Until Thursday, regulatory ordinances issued by the SPA were more clear about what sorts of bonuses were not allowed, rather than which were.
Rafael Marchetti Marcondes, the legal director of the Brazilian betting industry association IBRJ, said “the regulation indicates what cannot be done”.
“The main rules concern the prohibition of welcome bonuses and the ban on granting bonuses linked to deposits. There is no provision requiring prior authorisation, either from the administration or the judiciary, for each bonus to be granted,” he said.
May’s Ordinance 722/2024, while not explicit, was the first SPA ordinance to indirectly address bonuses, specifying that betting systems need to be able to track any transactions in loyalty programs and implying that certain types of promotions would be allowed.
Ordinance 1231/2024, issued in late July, clarified that operators may offer rewards and loyalty programs and empowered operators to make their own rules for their loyalty programs, provided they do not include welcome bonuses or other initiatives that would expressly go against the law.
It also forbids bonuses and rewards “conditional on financial contributions made by bettors” or “an advance, prepayment, bonus or prior advantage, even if merely as a promotion, disclosure or advertisement, for placing a bet”.
In the wake of last year’s law, industry officials have consistently called for a more liberal interpretation of any restrictions on bonus offers, to ensure Brazil’s regulated market can compete with offshore operators where prohibitions will not apply.
96 online operators have been allowed to remain in business in Brazil until December, on the basis that they have all applied for licences that have not yet been granted.
About 2,000 other sites are in the process of being blocked by the government, a process which began last week.
