A recent study by the Confederação Nacional do Comércio de Bens, Serviços e Turismo estimated that online betting reduced Brazil’s retail trade by R$143.8 billion. Industry representatives argue the methodology behind the figure is flawed.
Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias president Plínio Lemos Jorge criticised the report, saying it contains significant distortions in how the market is interpreted.
According to the Brazilian Finance Ministry, the regulated sports betting industry generates around 37 billion Brazilian reals (BRL) in Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR), which is the actual amount consumers have spent in this particular industry.
Conversely, the Nacional de Comércio de Bens, Serviços e Turismo (CNC) estimates the turnover from sports betting is around R$29 billion a month, which totals over R$340 billion a year. Jorge says that this does not accurately reflect how the sports gambling market functions.
The report also states that the turnover for sports betting, at an estimated R$340 billion, includes repeated use of funds as people bet multiple times on the same amount.
The report further states that some people do not add up their entire expenditures on gambling when calculating their overall expenditures. Jorge states that money will pass through various betting cycles and can be counted multiple times if it has not been properly tracked for the purposes of determining gambling transactions.
As of this time, the Ministry of Finance and Pay4Fun have reported approximately 28 million bettors in Brazil. However, spending patterns are quite diverse. While 53.3% of bettors spend less than R$50 per month, 19.5% of bettors spend over R$1,000 per month.
Jorge agreed that household debt is growing; however, he also indicated that this growth is attributed to structural economic issues, and not to sports gambling activity.
He concluded that analysis of the sector should be more rigorous, saying, in effect, that public debate should rely on accurate interpretation of data rather than assumptions, and that policy decisions require figures that properly reflect economic reality.
