Brazilians have also taken an interest in games such as Aviator, where players wager on the ascent of a virtual airplane, and the online casino game Fortune Tiger.
Brazilian authorities launched a significant crackdown on online betting sites on Friday, targeting over 2,000 platforms, including those that sponsor well-known football teams like Corinthians and other top-tier clubs. This initiative is part of the government’s effort to regulate the rapidly growing online gambling sector, which Finance Minister Fernando Haddad has described as a “pandemic.”
Since the legalization of sports betting in Brazil in 2018, the industry has largely operated without rules or tax obligations, leading to unchecked growth. While many popular sites focus on sports betting, Brazilians have also taken an interest in games such as Aviator, where players wager on the ascent of a virtual airplane, and the online casino game Fortune Tiger.
The administration under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is enforcing new regulations set to begin in January, targeting platforms that fail to comply. These rules aim to prevent fraud, combat money laundering, and protect consumers, particularly by prohibiting underage gambling. “Any site that is not properly registered or in the process of regularization is being shut down,” Haddad stated.
The finance ministry has flagged 2,040 “suspicious domains,” requesting the telecommunications regulatory agency, Anatel, to initiate blocking measures. Among the sites on this blacklist is Esportes da Sorte, a sponsor for Corinthians, a leading football club in Brazil, as well as other clubs like Athletico Paranaense, Bahia, and Grêmio de Porto Alegre. The ministry emphasized that these offending sites would face bans on advertising, which includes sponsorship of sports teams.
Conversely, over 200 betting sites that have chosen to adhere to the new regulations will be permitted to continue operations. According to Brazil’s central bank, approximately 24 million of the nation’s 212 million citizens, or about one in nine people, engage in online gambling. Recently, Lula cautioned that gambling is leading many low-income Brazilians into financial distress.
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