Key points:
- The Senate has ruled in favour of the bill that would see restrictions placed on betting
- This includes using athletes, influencers or other celebrities
- It also bans operators from sponsoring referees
The Senate in Brazil has approved bill PL 2.985/2023, which will impose restrictions on gambling advertisements.
The original bill requested that all advertisements related to gambling would be prohibited; however, this was later amended to simply restrict the advertisement of fixed-odds bets.
This will apply to direct advertisements, as well as advertising actions with athletes, artists, communicators, influencers or authorities.
Some of the aspects that will be prohibited will include advertisements during live sports broadcasts; shows updated odds during broadcasts; advertisements in print; direct or indirect sponsorship of referees; the use of drawings, animations, mascots or characters; sending messages, calls or notifications to customers; placement of advertising with sexist, misogynistic or discriminatory content, including the objectification of the human body or the association of betting with gender stereotypes; and any advertisements in stadiums or sports squares.
Senator Carlos Portinho noted that, “after the law regulated the sports betting market, the sector was not able to self-regulate with regard to advertising.”
Portinho continued that many advertisements would include a catchphrase on responsible gambling, but deemed this to not be effective enough in protecting people.
The man behind the bill, Senator Styvenson Valentim, said: "There are people degrading themselves, losing assets, becoming psychologically ill, even being victims of suicide or collections from loan sharks.
“They are people who believe that they will create a patrimony, get rich playing because they have the sad illusion of an influencer or a person who lies to them on social networks or TV, in an advertisement saying — with an imported car, with an expensive watch, very well dressed — that people will have that same standard of living after betting.”
The bill was passed, despite several Brazillian football clubs urging the Senate not to pass it, with concerns of financial and legal disruption across the industry.
The bill has currently been approved by the plenary but is yet to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies - to which it has been sent to be approved with urgency.
Good to know: In the final voting stage, 30 people voted ‘Yes’ while six voted ‘No’
Senator Leila Barros, Sports Commission President, said: "We saw this mass dissemination of betting advertising, which brought absolutely nothing.
“In fact, it brought a lot of people with addiction problems higher suicide rates.
“We can't blame the sector, but we have to make the mea culpa here in the House, because this could have been done from the first moment [when the regulation of bets was approved].”
