In an interview with the UOL news portal, the official stated that the measure will be taken to counteract the increase in the income tax exemption for workers who earn twice the minimum wage, promised by leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“I will regulate online gambling,” Haddad said. “They don’t pay taxes and they take a fortune from the country.”
A law passed in 2018 allowed fixed-odds online betting for the first time in Brazil, in which bookmakers offer odds on the outcome of sporting events.
In 2021, the government of Jair Bolsonaro signed a law that would tax online sports betting, but the legislation that required regulation of the sector never happened.
The 2021 proposal targeted market revenue estimated at about 2 billion reais ($385 million) a year that was remitted abroad.
The official pointed out that there are still no precise estimates of how much can be collected with the regulation.
On the other hand, his secretary of the Treasury had already said that the increase in the income tax exemption would cost some 3.2 billion reais.
A finance ministry source, speaking on condition of anonymity as the measure is still being prepared, said preliminary figures point to potential revenue of between 2 billion and 6 billion reais from taxation of online sports betting.
Internet sports betting companies have grown around the world and boosted their presence in the country, including sites like bet365, Betano and Betfair.
Source: Ambito
