Finance Secretary suggests creating working group with states to discuss Bets rules

The deputy secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Dario Durigan, suggested the creation of a working group with the states to discuss the regulation of fixed odds betting in the country. Estadão/Broadcast learnt that the proposal was made during the meeting of the National Finance Policy Council (Confaz), which brings together state finance secretaries and the federal government, on Friday 12th.

The group's aim is to discuss the regulations jointly, with the work coordinated by the Federal Government. In other words: the discussion is not about taxation, because it is the ISS, a municipal tax, that is levied on betting, and not the ICMS. Estadão/Broadcast has learnt that there is concern about the regulation of the granting of state concessions.

The assessment is that it is important for there to be a certain uniformity in this concession, with similar rules between the states, and especially values, which would avoid a kind of fiscal war for this authorisation.

It's worth remembering that in 2020, a decision by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) ruled that regional governments have the autonomy to run state lotteries, based on territorial limits. This allows state lotteries to grant authorisations for bets in their territories, as Paraná has already done.

As most of the sub-national entities have not yet drawn up their regulations, the WG proposed by Durigan would hold this discussion. At state level, the discussion is complex because lotteries are not always linked to the Treasury departments. In Paraná, for example, the lottery is under the umbrella of Planning, while in Rio de Janeiro it is under the Civil House.

This week, the Ministry of Finance published an ordinance with a regulatory agenda for the betting market. The measure instituted the Regulatory Policy of the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA), which systematically structures the regulation of fixed odds betting in the country with a timetable for the implementation of measures over the next few months, divided into four stages that will run until July.