The statement was made in an interview with Exame magazine and comes shortly after a public hearing in the Senate to discuss restrictions on advertising in the sector.
"Our position is clear: we respect judicial decisions and the competence of the legislature. Congress is sovereign to decide what should or should not be allowed. As a regulatory body, it is up to us to indicate the possible effects of each action. Our fear with the ban on advertising is that, by completely banning it, the population will lose the criteria to identify authorized companies," Dudena explained.
According to the secretary, "advertising is one of the ways to distinguish legal companies. "If this ban goes ahead, we will have to create other mechanisms to help bettors identify authorized operators, as we already do with the .bet.br domain," he said.
In the same interview, Dudena was consulted about the possible legalization of physical casinos in Brazil. He argued that the regulation must take place before the market begins to operate, unlike bets, which were legalized in 2018 and only had the regulatory framework in force on January 1, 2025.
In the opinion of the official, clear rules are needed to "ensure a safe and well-structured market".
Debate on advertising in the Senate
On Wednesday, April 23, the Senate Sports Commission held a public hearing to discuss the impact of advertising of sports betting houses and evaluate the need to restrict exposure to this type of content, especially among young people, reported Rádio Senado.
In the debate, organized from two bills currently being processed in the Senate, divergent voices were heard: PL 2985/2023, which establishes the prohibition of advertising in "any media", and PL 3405/2023, which prevents the participation of athletes, ex-athletes and celebrities in betting ads.
Heloísa Diniz, representative of the Association of Betting and Fantasy Sports (ABFS), indicated that the priority should be to strengthen supervision by the SPA. For her, banning advertising is not the right way to go.
In the same vein, Eduardo Godoy, of the Advertising Market Self-Regulation Forum (Cenp), stated that restricting ads is an ineffective and counterproductive measure. "A ban only pushes the problem towards illegality. And when a sector operates in the shadows, those who lose are the citizens, the State and society as a whole," he said.
On the other side of the debate, psychiatrist Hermano Tavares, professor at the University of São Paulo (USP) and specialist in addictive behaviors, described the current scenario as "calamitous". He advocated a ban on gambling advertising, comparing their effects to those of substances such as alcohol and tobacco.
"Bets, when practiced frequently and intensely, become a habit. And a habit, when it takes root, becomes an addiction. We can't neglect this risk," he warned.
The rapporteur of one of the bills, Senator Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), harshly criticized the position of the federal government, which, according to him, has not addressed the need to regulate advertising in the sector. "They had a year to establish clear rules and nothing was done. Today we see massive, predatory advertising, which even harms competition between betting platforms," he said.
Portinho defended the creation of time slots for ads and the prohibition of advertising on social networks, as well as a regulatory framework that establishes objective limits, especially to protect minors. For him, the self-regulation of the sector can play a complementary role, but it does not replace the action of the State.
Dingnews.com 02/05/2025