Zona de Azar Brasil – Brazil: Betting Operators May Be Liable for Abusive Advertising

Brazil.- August 2, 2024 www.zonadeazar.com Fixed-odd betting operators may be held responsible for any abusive or even misleading advertising carried out by influencers hired by them, on social networks. This is one of the rules established by Ordinance SPA/MF nº 1.231/2024 on Responsible Gaming, Rights and Duties that the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets of the Ministry of Finance (SPA-MF) published in the Official Gazette this Thursday (1/8 ).

The normative instrument contains other advertising rules, including the prohibition of unauthorized companies advertising or sponsoring sports, in addition to establishing rules to prevent and combat gambling disorders and protect the mental and financial health of bettors. The objective is to ensure a healthy consumer relationship between them and fixed-odd betting operating agents that operate with federal authorization.

To protect themselves, bettors will be able to establish limits on time logged in and resources bet, they will be able to suspend their own account and even exclude themselves with or without a specific period. In turn, operating agents will have to monitor the behavior of bettors and alert them if they notice that they are acting in a problematic way.

According to the MF Prizes and Betting Secretary, Régis Dudena, the responsible gambling ordinance imposes strict duties on bookmakers to monitor and protect bettors, preventing over-indebtedness and other problems related to gambling addiction.

“Bookmakers must be transparent in their relationships with influencers, ensuring that all promotions are responsible and honest. We have established clear restrictions on advertising, prohibiting advertisements that suggest that gambling is a means of getting rich easily. Any misleading advertising can result in severe penalties for bookmakers,” explained Dudena.

The Ordinance also regulates three common practices in sports betting: incentives, early withdrawal (“cash out”) and betting exchange (“betting exchange”). In the first case, following the provisions of Law No. 14,790, entry bonuses are prohibited, but actions that encourage bettors’ loyalty are permitted.

In the case of early withdrawal, the rules primarily aim to ensure transparency and, in the case of the betting exchange, they try to combat attempts at money laundering. To combat this crime, measures were also established to identify bettors, which include the use of facial recognition in a series of operations, such as completing and changing registration. Operators may also require proof of income.

The MF will maintain, on its website, a list of companies authorized to operate fixed-odd betting, with the addresses of their respective websites. All websites of authorized companies must end with the extension “.bet.br”.

Edit: @_fonta www.zonadeazar.com