Brazilian sports minister backs GGR tax rate of 16%

Ana Moser has recommended that the Ministry of Sports collect and allocate betting tax.

Brazil.- Federally regulated sports betting in Brazil is slowly but now more surely on the way, and that means there’s the issue of tax to be resolved. The sports minister Ana Moser has put forward a proposal that would put her ministry in charge of matters.

Under Moser’s proposal, the tax rate on gross gaming revenue would be set at 15 to 16 per cent. The Ministry of Sport would be responsible for collecting tax and allocating it to public agencies and sports bodies.

Some 10 per cent of the tax collected would go to social security, 2.4 per cent to the National Social Security Fund, 1.63 per cent to football clubs and 0.82 per cent to youth initiatives. The Ministry of Sport would keep 1 per cent.

Congress is expected to consider the proposal on Friday (May 5). Football clubs will probably oppose the proposal as they’ve asked to be guaranteed at least 4 per cent of betting tax for image and athlete rights.

Sports betting in Brazil is set to be overseen by a new Betting and Lottery Secretariat under an agreement reached by the Ministry of Finance and minister for state planning and budget responsibilities, Esther Dweck. It will handle licence applications and monitor betting volumes and revenues. The Ministry of Finance expects there to be 70 to 100 operators.

Evangelical politicians have launched a counter-proposal to Brazil’s proposed sports betting legalisation, but finance minister Fernando Haddad hopes the government will manage to establish the final terms for a regulatory framework in the next few weeks.

 So far only the state of Minas Gerais has launched regulated sports betting in a statewide pilot, although other states also have plans to go it alone amid the continued delays in federal regulation.

See also: Nine international firms form Brazil gambling association