🙈 Brazil's betting controversy🇧🇷: the money the government missed out on

🙈 Brazil's betting controversy🇧🇷: the money the government missed out on

The CEO of one of the licensed gambling platforms contacted BNLData's editorial team and, on the condition that neither his identity nor the name of his company be disclosed, provided a profit and loss statement for the Brazilian gambling market in 2025, based on his brand's actual performance… Here's the spoiler: the biggest beneficiary of legal betting revenue was not the operators, but the State. Its revenue from gambling was 2.6 times higher than the profits earned by the platforms themselves.

➡️ According to the figures in the “Selo Narrativa” report, in 2025, the government collected BRL 9.95 billion (USD 1,849,705,000) from the regulated gambling market, equivalent to 27% of guaranteed public revenue. Here's how this amount is distributed:

👀 It is worth noting that the government's share shown in the table is calculated conservatively. At least two payments to the government were excluded from the calculation:

⇒ License fee. Each company paid BRL 30 million for a five-year operating license. The management did not account for the amortization of this amount.
⇒ Inspection fee. This fee is collected monthly by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting of the Ministry of Finance (SPA-MF), based on revenue levels, and was also excluded from the calculation.

Including these two items would increase the public sector's share and reduce profits.

➡️ Now let's look at what remains for the operator. Income tax/withholding (9.25%) and the capital-raising tax (2%) are levied on 88% of gross revenue remaining after statutory allocations. This results in effective rates of 8.14% and 1.76%, respectively. Operating expenses include rent, salaries and related costs, CRM systems, other technological platforms, and legal services.

➡️ …It is also worth recalling that, shortly after the gambling ban, the Presidential Secretariat of Social Communication (Secom) stated on Instagram that “bets always win” and that bookmakers “rob the people”. However, if operators were indeed “robbing” players, the government was the partner taking the largest share of the revenue.

➡️ And now, here's the question: if bookmakers were willing to operate legally even under these conditions, why sacrifice such a lucrative source of revenue❓ Was it solely to pursue a questionable electoral strategy that came close to failing❓

There is undoubtedly more to come in this story… This is Brazil. Stay tuned.

#news #gamblingnews #brazil #gambling #betting

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