ANJL criticizes Brazil government meeting on betting without the regulated sector

The Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL) has issued a formal rebuke after the Brazilian Federal Government held a September 1 meeting on the impact of online sports betting without inviting regulated operators or the Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas (SPA), the Finance Ministry body in charge of regulating and supervising the market. For PSPs and acquirers in Brazil, the point is simple: policy discussions about a licensed market are getting shaped without the people who actually run, settle, and monitor it.

1. On Wednesday, September 2, ANJL said it opposed the government’s decision to convene the meeting on Tuesday, September 1, under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with no representatives from the regulated betting sector. The event brought together entities from health, culture and economics, civil society representatives, and religious organizations.
2. ANJL’s main objection was not just exclusion, but composition: according to the association, several participants had already taken public critical positions on the betting market. With no regulated-sector counterweight in the room, ANJL said the discussion produced a one-sided narrative about the sector’s impact.
3. The association also highlighted the absence of the Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas (SPA), the Ministry of Finance unit responsible for regulating and supervising the market. In ANJL’s view, that sits oddly with the government’s stated goals of protecting consumers, fighting ludopatia (gambling addiction), and protecting minors while excluding the agency with technical and institutional knowledge of the measures already in place.
4. ANJL president Plínio Lemos Jorge said excluding regulated actors seriously undermines the democratic character of the debate and public policy design. He said any serious discussion of betting platforms’ effects must include regulated operators, who have data, technical expertise, and a deeper view of how the market works.
5. The association also said data and information presented during the meeting did not match the official data available. It added that Brazil’s sports betting market operates under a legal framework approved by Congress after broad public and institutional debate, and that any revision should follow the same path with regulators, market participants, and society involved.