Zona de Azar Brasil – Brazil: Regulating Bbetting is not the Central Bank’s job

Brasil.- October 9, 2024 www.zonadeazar.com  During a debate held today, October 8, Gabriel Galípolo , nominated for the presidency of the Central Bank by President Lula , admitted to having had initial distrust with the data presented by the institution and stated that regulating the sector is not the role of the agency.

According to Galípolo, the monetary authority is only responsible for analyzing the impact of online gambling and games on the country’s economy. “I confess that, in the first meetings, when the numbers were presented to me, I was very suspicious. At each meeting, those numbers were confirmed until we reached the amount that was made public in the study that the Central Bank carried out.”

“The Central Bank does not have any authority over the regulation of games and betting, our role is much more to try to understand what the impact of this is on consumption, household debt and how we can explain the relationship between economic activity, expenses and the impact on inflation”, added Galípolo during the debate.

This is the first time that a vote has been held for the leadership of the Central Bank since the agency’s autonomy came into effect in 2021.

Central Bank study was questioned by industry professionals

It is worth remembering that the study carried out by the Central Bank did not disclose technical notes and was contested by executives and experts in the betting industry. According to the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) , the analysis did not take into account the amount returned by operators in prizes. According to the association, the amount spent by bettors was around R$450 million, about 6 times less than the R$3 billion disclosed by the Central Bank.

Study motivated interministerial meeting

The study prompted President Lula to call a meeting at the Planalto Palace to discuss the online gambling and gaming market . The meeting was attended by Ministers Fernando Haddad (Finance), Wellington Dias (Social Development), Nísia Trindade (Health) and Ricardo Lewandowski (Justice).

In it, Lula stressed the importance of treating gambling addiction as a public health issue. “There are a lot of people getting into debt, a lot of people spending money they don’t have. And we believe that this should be treated as a matter of dependency. In other words, people are dependent, people are addicted.”

The idea of ​​suspending the payment of bets with the Bolsa Família card, however, was not put into practice. According to Dario Durigan , executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance, “The Bolsa Família public is protected by the suspension of illegal bets and by the fine-tooth comb that will be carried out in authorized companies. For now, the use of the Bolsa Família card has not been suspended.”

Editó: @_fonta www.zonadeazar.com