Long-time gambling opponent in Brazil Eduardo Girão has presented a bill seeking to ban certain incentive and retention mechanisms within iGaming, including loyalty programmes and cashback.
Senator Girão’s Bill No 1018, published this week, seeks to amend Law No 14,790, which legalised betting in Brazil back in December 2023.
The bill would make it forbidden for licensed betting operators in Brazil to “establish, maintain or disclose mechanisms to incentivise, retain or stimulate” gambling.
Bill No 1018 would also prohibit loyalty, rewards or points programmes, as well as the granting of cashback to bettors.
Promotions conditioned on deposit, balance maintenance or a continuity of activity on the platform would also be banned under the measure.
Gamification would also be prohibited, with operators unable to feature goals, missions or challenges, as well as ranking players based on their betting activity.
Only communication with players that is “informative, institutional or educational” would be permitted, due to a proposed ban on personalised communication that is intended to encourage players to gamble based on their previous betting history.
If the bill is passed into law, licensed operators will have 90 days from its publication to adapt their platforms and contracts.
Why has Girão presented this bill?
Girão has been consistent in his anti-gambling approach, repeatedly calling for the regulation of online betting to be overturned over its social impacts.
In his justifications for Bill No. 1018, Girão again took aim at the sector, claiming legalisation has “ushered in a scenario of profound social, economic and institutional concern”.
Although welcome bonuses are already prohibited, Girão believes further restrictions are necessary to prevent operators from retaining players based on their previous betting behaviour.
“This is an activity whose very economic logic depends on the repeated loss of the user, which imposes on the State the duty to act firmly to mitigate its harmful effects,” Girão said.
“Given this scenario, the approval of this proposal represents a necessary measure to mitigate the socially adverse effects of the activity, preserve the economic dignity of the Brazilian population, and improve the regulatory balance of the sector.”
Brazil politicians continue to take aim at gambling
The licensed betting sector has become a somewhat divisive topic among politicians in Brazil.
Earlier this month, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attracted the sector’s ire when he called upon the government to unite to ban online betting, describing gambling addiction as a “tragedy”.
Atucha Strategic Advisory founder and CEO Ramiro Atucha described Lula’s comments as “disrespectful” to operators that have invested in the Brazilian market.
Atucha also warned that banning online betting would only fuel black market activity, telling iGB: “I struggle to believe that someone as smart as [Lula] will not know that the players are going to end up in the unregulated market.
“All the problems they are listing are to do with unregulated operators, not with regulated operators.”
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/legal-compliance/regulation/new-brazil-bill-ban-loyalty-programmes-cashback/
