The President of the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR), Andre Gelfi, was present at the SBC Summit Rio 2025, where he participated in the panel ‘Tech Talk: Where Innovation Meets Regulation’, last February 27.
In the debate, the executive said that he viewed the Brazilian regulation favorably and highlighted as a differentiator the requirement of facial recognition for gamblers to access betting sites.
“Brazil brings to this regulated market some unprecedented components. Facial recognition is trivial for Brazilians, but for our industry, it is an absolute novelty,” he said.
In Gelfi’s view, the fact that the Brazilian regulation has only been in place for two months makes it difficult to make a full analysis of what needs to be improved in the process. “But based on what we saw and knowing the regulation, we are going to have difficulty working on the issue of advertising, especially on platforms, influencers, and organic content, I think it still seems loose. It seems to me that we have an Achilles heel there,” he said.
“I also believe that the Brazilian regulation does not mention gaming providers, and it could be a way to address channelization. But, in general, we are very optimistic about what we already have. I think the main element of this new regulatory agenda is the data that we are going to extract from the regulated market from now on,” he added.
When asked during the panel which regulatory models could be considered positive examples, the executive named those applied in England, Italy, Denmark, and Spain. “And we have recent markets that also impress with their modernity and the way they are structured, such as the Ontario market in Canada,” he said.
Shortly after the panel ended, and in a brief interview with Yogonet, IBJR’s Director General stated that he sees the Selective Tax as a levy “that does not correspond”.
The Selective Tax, nicknamed ‘sin tax’, was approved in 2024 as part of the tax reform regulations, and will tax products considered harmful to health and the environment, including alcohol, cigarettes, and physical and online gambling. With no rate yet defined, the Selective Tax should come into force as of 2027.
“The Selective Tax levies a tax that we already pay, which is the 12% social contribution. Unfortunately, our request was not accepted and we will now work to mitigate the impact this will have on the competitiveness of our business. We must not forget that taxes are one of the main levers that determine the success of our regulated industry. If we stiffen taxes too much, we make it more difficult to channel the market and may even end up collecting less,” he concluded.
