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Brazil Bans Online Betting

92 points · 52 comments · bratao

  1. HyperL0gi · · focus · HN ↗
    Recipe for winning: introduce a problem, watch society get destroyed by it while you profit from it, then when a big portion of the poor population has too much debt because of the problem you legalized, ban it and offer a solution a couple of months before the election. Save the people, get elected. Win win
    1. llagerlof · · focus · HN ↗
      I mean, they even cancelled a few taxes that they themselves had approved in the past, just before the elections. What a coincidence!
    2. cassianoleal · · focus · HN ↗
      If only that actually matched history...

      The so called "bets" were authorised to operate in Brazil in 2018 via law 13.756/2018, in the first year of Jair Bolsonaro's presidency.

      Jair Bolsonaro, who was found guilty of Federal crimes and is paying his sentence under house arrest due to frail health, is the father of Flávio Bolsonaro, main adversary of incumbent President Lula da Silva.

      So it is in fact the opposite of what you described.

      1. HyperL0gi · · focus · HN ↗
        Since you conveniently stopped at the beginning of the story, let me finish it for the sake of clarity.

        In 2018, the president was Michel Temer, not Bolsonaro. Temer had been Dilma Rousseff's vice president and took office after she was impeached in 2016. Dilma, by the way, was Lula's handpicked successor. That December, Temer signed Law 13.756, which legalized sports betting but left the regulation for later.

        That regulation came under Lula: on December 29, 2023, he signed Law 14.790, which set a licensing fee of up to R$ 30 million and authorized betting companies to operate legally in Brazil.

        So, technically speaking, it started with a president elected on Dilma's ticket and was sealed by Lula.

        1. tpresa · · focus · HN ↗
          Lula, Dilma and their party were opposition to Temer's government, so I don't think you can fairly attribute its legalization of sports betting back to Dilma and or Lula
          1. carraes · · focus · HN ↗
            > Lula, Dilma and their party were opposition to Temer's government

            lmao, this is amazing...

            1. owebmaster · · focus · HN ↗
              How amazing? Are you saying Dilma, the honest and illegally ousted president, supported Michel Temer? That would be insane.
              1. matheusmoreira · · focus · HN ↗
                Of all the alleged brazilian coups, Dilma's impeachment was by far the most democratic.
      2. ___msh___ · · focus · HN ↗
        Lies. This was not signed into law in Bolsonaro's term, but rather Temer's.

        And since you mentioned Bolsonaro's prison term in relation to basically nothing in the original comment, I think it's fair to mention Lula has also served a substantial prison term for what is probably the most massive corruption scheme in all of history, and had been released so he could run again though judicial maneuvering by a corrupt supreme court.

        1. piva00 · · focus · HN ↗
          > substantial prison term for what is probably the most massive corruption scheme in all of history

          It was definitely not the most massive corruption scheme in all of history. That's a lot of hyperbole or just you parroting the old propaganda used at the time.

          Nonetheless, Brazilian politics is all incredibly corrupt and nothing will improve about it in the foreseeable future, it's only getting worse.

          1. matheusmoreira · · focus · HN ↗
            "Getting worse" is quite the understatement. The unelected supreme court was exposed as the true seat of power back in 2022. By now the situation has degenerated to the point president Lula is literally calling supreme court judges for support in public.

            People called me crazy back then.

      3. cassianoleal · · focus · HN ↗
        I can't edit my comment, so replying here. To the 2 people who corrected me, thank you for the correction.

        In 2018 the president was indeed Michel Temer, who was Dilma Roussef's vice-president. Temer led a coup against his President.

        In any case, Temer was opposition to Lula and Dilma's Worker's Party so the main point stands.

    3. namelessindivid · · focus · HN ↗
      "Betting" was made legal by Temer (2018), the Bolsonaro administration (2019-2022) should have regulated it, but they refused to do so. Lula (the current president running for reelection) did finally regulated them back in 2023 (i.e., made them finally pay taxes and introduced a few protection mechanisms and data sharing obligations), however it was still a societal problem as you put it, which they finally fixed today by banning. Your comment makes it seem like the current administration allowed bets in the first place. That didn't happen.
      1. ___msh___ · · focus · HN ↗
        As per your own words, they did allow it in the same measure as Bolsonaro's government did. Also, if Lula had indeed "regulated" it as you claim, perhaps things wouldn't have gone downhill to the current woeful state eh?
        1. vitorgrs · · focus · HN ↗
          The problem with the regulation it's that it made safer for TV and clubs sign sponsor/ads. So after regulation the ads got insane.
    4. harrisoned · · focus · HN ↗
      Being down-voted for speaking facts tells a lot about Brazil's current climate.

      This was introduced and regulated as a way, i assume, to get taxes from those betting business, and everything was in fact legalized and regulated in the current government that was struggling with money. I saw a lot of people spending all of their money on that stuff and get broke. I have not heard a single thing about prohibiting that until very recently, and it's a great example of how the short-term memory of people can be exploited for social engineering (or political campaigns, they are very similar). It would be great if that was, in fact, enabled in the previous government so the current one would have prohibited years ago but we all know that this isn't what happened. At least it is going away and it's a net positive, but do not forget those who wanted to profit from it.

    5. cvjcvjcvj · · focus · HN ↗
      Not the same goverment.
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