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Industry Associations Condemn Tax Proposal
The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) described the new tax as contradictory to its stated purpose of combating organized crime.
“By overtaxing the regulated market, it creates direct incentives for the migration of users to illegal platforms, many of them operated by criminal organisations with transnational operations. In practice, the effect tends to be the opposite of the stated objective of the proposal.”
The association warned that the tax weakens legal operators who comply with regulatory requirements including anti-money laundering protocols, consumer protection standards, and cooperation with authorities. The measure reduces government tax collection while expanding opportunities for illegal operators who neither pay taxes nor follow regulations.
Competitive Disadvantage for Legal Operators
The Brazilian online gaming industry association IBJR criticized the measure as creating an unfair advantage for illegal platforms.
“Under the pretext of financing public security, the text makes a historic mistake: it hands over to clandestine platforms — many financed by criminal factions — the greatest competitive advantage the market has ever seen.”
The association explained that the 15% tax means R$100 deposited at a legal operator would be reduced to R$85, while the same amount deposited at an illegal site retains its full value. This pricing disparity incentivizes players to move to unregulated platforms.
Questions Over Revenue Projections
IBJR cited data indicating 51% of gambling platforms in Brazil operate illegally, processing approximately R$78 billion in annual transactions. The association also challenged the financial assumptions behind the proposed tax.
“The measure is based on a non-existent financial premise. There is talk of raising R$30 billion annually from a regulated market that today earns about R$36 billion. It is therefore projected to charge in taxes almost the equivalent of the entire revenue of the regulated sector, which is mathematically impossible and makes formal economic activity unfeasible.”
Additional Regulatory Challenges
Brazil’s regulated gambling market, which launched less than a year ago, faces additional pressure from a separate proposal to impose retroactive taxation on licensed operators covering the five years before market regulation.
The combination of new taxes and regulatory uncertainty has prompted licensed operators to question their investment decisions in the Brazilian market during its first year of operation.
Source: Gaming Intelligence
