Brazil: video games market value 2018-2023. Brazil: ad spend in gaming & gambling 2016-2018; Brazil: main gaming digital advertisers 2019. Brazil: online gaming penetration 2017-2019,. Brazil Online Gambling Market, Forecast Market Growth, 2019 – 2023, 2025F, 2030F Value ($ Million) 17.9. Brazil Online Gambling Market, Segmentation By Game Type. The first is obvious, in that Brazil has a long tradition of sporting pre-eminence of which they are extremely proud. The second is that alongside this sits an ingrained fondness for gambling. 45% of the nation's 200 million people have internet connectivity, and if you do the flimsiest bit of research on their game of choice, Jogo Do Bicho. Brazil’s illegal gambling market is said to be worth around $5.7b, of which $3.24b comes from jogo de bicho. The country’s estimated 220k illegal slot machines are reportedly generating over.

Pansy, daughter of Macau’s “King of Gambling” Stanley Ho, told the Macau Global Tourism Economic Forum that she is interested in the gaming market in Brazil should licensing become available.

Ms. Ho made her comments at a press conference held in Macau on Monday, October 14.

Daughter of a Macau Billionaire

Pansy is the eldest daughter of Stanley Ho, colloquially known as Godfather or King of Gambling in Macau due to his extensive presence in the Macau gaming circuit. Today, it is estimated that Mr. Ho’s various enterprises in Macau — most of which focus partially, if not entirely, on casinos and gaming — employ one-fourth of the local population.

Mr. Ho had been given a government-granted monopoly of the local casino industry for decades, allowing him to grow a tremendous empire in the local gaming market. Today, Macau is home to some of the world’s biggest casinos, and gambling tourism comprises 50% of Macau’s annual revenue. This makes gaming Macau’s largest contributor to gross income.

Brazil online gambling market size

Stanley Ho, left, with his daughter, Pansy, heiress of the MGM Macau and billions of dollars. ©www.forbes.com

After a stroke in 2010, Mr. Ho began to divide his many holdings between his children – of which he has 17 – and his various spouses, past and present. Those who retained the most significant holdings after this division were his fourth wife, Angela Leong, in the form of casino operator SJM Holdings; his son, Lawrence Ho, who received ownership of resort and casino in Macau; and Pansy, who received ownership of MGM Macau.

This stake gave Pansy the greatest portion of his wealth. Today, Pansy’s net worth is valued at $4.54 billion.

At An International Press Conference, Ho Keeps Her Eyes Forward

The Global Tourism Economy Forum took place in Macau this past week (October 13-15), with participants coming to the city from around the world to hear from some of the industry’s leading figures. Participating countries included Argentina and Brazil.

The forum came at a good time: with ongoing trade tensions and protests in Hong Kong, tourism to Macau — and, by extension, Macau’s gaming industry — has been struggling. As a result, Macau has been less than impressed with its gaming revenues, which continued to stagnate — and even fall — during Golden Week, a week-long celebration of national pride in China.

With local markets less than pretty, it is, perhaps, not surprising that Ms. Ho elected to look elsewhere.

For Many, the Latin American Market Holds Promise

Many countries and regions have been angling to name themselves “the next Macau”: Japan, the Philippines, and many Latin American countries among them.

With increasing leniency for regulation and a growing familiarity with online gaming, the Latin American market has been of continued interest to those in the gaming industry, particularly in Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil.

Many Latin American countries have had a longstanding history with gaming, so implementing a robust gambling industry is a natural progression for cultures already friendly to betting. What’s more, most of the 26 countries in Latin America are Spanish speaking, and a linguistic uniformity makes spreading content across countries much easier than in, for example, the European market, where many different languages are spoken.

In 2018, the gaming market in Latin America grew 13.5% from the year before, and some predict this will continue increasing by 50% over the next 3 years. In 2019, it is estimated online gambling will earn a net worth of $2 billion in Latin America by year’s end, which is more than triple what the Southeast Asian market will earn for this year.

What’s So Special About Brazil?

Historically, Brazil has been closed off to gambling, with laws that rendered all gaming activity illegal since the 1940s. In the last few years, however, Brazil’s government has been increasingly friendly towards the gaming industry. In 2018, Brazil’s then-President Michel Temer passed a law that allowed sports betting in the country, and a short time later, the government passed a bill legislating online gambling.Still, Brazilian citizens eager to participate in the exciting world of online gaming were still able to access online gaming websites, although these were European-based. By transitioning into a government-sanctioned online gaming industry in Brazil, the country can expect a tremendous influx of new revenue — up to hundreds of millions annually.

After news that the government was beginning to warm to the idea of resort-casinos in Brazil, 32 new casinos were legalized. This law establishes regulations as to how many casinos can be held in Brazilian cities in relation to the size of the population. For example, cities smaller than 15 million citizens may only open one casino. However, in Sao Paolo, home to more than 45 million people, up to 3 casinos are allowed.

Brazil Online Gambling Market

Pansy Ho’s Perspective: Great Possibility in Brazil

At last week’s conference in Macau, Ms. Ho referenced the importance Brazil has in the global marketplace, given the size of its population and its economy. In her speech, Ms. Ho suggested Brazil could quite realistically become home to integrated resort-casinos like those in Macau, saying:

“I’m quite sure there will be some of the existing [gaming operators] that would be clearly interested [in investing.]”

Attending the conference was Brazilian Minister for Tourism, Marcelo Álvaro António, who made clear that Brazil has focused distinctly on growing their casino industry in the hopes of bolstering tourism and overall revenue. In a statement, Mr. António said, “I want to remind you that the legislative [power] in Brazil is considering regulating the operation of casinos in [resorts] …, opening major avenues of investment.”

Ms. Ho emphasized in her speech that she has not spoken with Brazil authorities directly. Still, it seems these industry leaders have one point in common, and growth in Brazil’s casino market (one way or the other) is sure to follow.

Gambling is illegal in Brazil, but that doesn't stop Brazilians from gambling. This article presents the common gambling practices in Brazil, and the legal or illegal aspects contained in them.

In Brazil the exploitation of gambling and games of chance was old, derived from the first years of the Brazilian Empire. Although, over the centuries, those practices were forbidden and allowed many times by the government.

Brazil online gambling marketing

The explanations were always very similar. Those who agreed to the extinction of it affirmed that those injured moral principles, while the ones that defended it highlighted the economic importance and financial movement that this market gradually conquered.

In 1946, then-President Dutra condemned these practices for a long time. Cities like Lambari and Poços de Caldas (Minas Gerais),Petrópolis (Rio de Janeiro)and other cities –that attracted players and gamblers from all over the world –were shut down. Even the casino hotel constructed in the city of Petrópolis, supposed to be the largest one of Brazil – the Quitandinha Palace – saw its doors closed.

Current Gambling Legislation

Nowadays Brazil condemns some types of gambling, as well as, the realization of games of chance. The practices below are only allowed when operated by establishments, companies, or services authorized by the Brazilian government.

Brazil Online Gambling Market
  • games in which the winning or the losing depends – exclusively or mainly – on luck
  • horse race betting outside the racecourse, or outside any place not authorized to realize this practice
  • sports betting

According to the country's constitution, it's forbidden to “establish or exploit games of chance in a public place or accessible to the public'. The practices are illegal if realized in:

  • particular houses - between individuals who are not part of the family who lives there
  • hotels or houses of collective housing - between their inhabitants
  • company's headquarters, society establishments or associations
  • establishment designated to exploit this type of game.

Lottery

The Lottery is a raffle system of awards distribution to a group of punters. In Brazil, the Lottery began in 1784, in Vila Rica (now Ouro Preto). Lotteries have spread rapidly throughout the country, being –during the twentieth century – improved in order to give more credibility and transparency to the process.

Legalization and Restrictions

From there until the 1960 decade, lotteries' administration was the responsibility of individuals selected by public bidding, and the term of the lease was 5 years. In 1961, then-President Quadros determined the Union and the State as the only ones competent to legislate over the lottery system, which means that only these two agents were allowed to conduct lotteries in the country.

Nowadays lotteries are very famous and common in Brazil, lots of Brazilians are used to gamble time or another, and some of them actually gamble on it every month. The Quadros determination is still in force, with Caixa Econômica Federal as the one responsible for their administration. There are nine federal lottery products:

  • Federal Lottery
  • Instant Lottery
  • Mega-Sena
  • Double-Sena
  • Quina
  • Lotomania
  • Lotogol
  • Loteca
  • Lotofácil

In addition to the federal lotteries in Brazil, each state is free to regulate their respective ones. In São Paulo, for example, the state lottery is administered by Banco Nossa Caixa. The 46% of the total amount collected by lotteries is distributed in prizes and the rest is designated to the Federal Government. The money is used for investments in health, education, security, culture, and sports.

Brazil Online Gambling Market Size

Bingo

Bingo is a very traditional game in Brazil, that after then-President Dutra Law, it was only legalized again in 1993. The Law Zico was born to promote sports activities in the country by conceding part of the bingo houses' revenue to sports clubs and federations. In the following year, the first bingo establishments appeared in São Paulo and spread over the whole nation.

The law was replaced by the Law Pelé (1998), that not only continued to authorize the existence of bingos in the country, it allowed the exploitation of slot machines as well. But contraventions started to be reported to the Public Minister and the law was rescinded. The administration of bingos was passed to the Caixa Econômica Federal until the 2001.

After that the country present a period with no federal regulation for game and gambling houses. The bingo house owners conquered injunctions through the court in many States, which allowed them to continue their activities. In 2004 more than 1.1 thousand bingo houses were operating in Brazil, moving more than 200 million BRL per year.

Criminalization

In the same year the President Lula signed a temporary measure that finally determined the closing of bingo establishments and the usage of slot machines in the whole country. The measure wasn't approved by the National Congress, but the practice is still considered a crime.

This unfortunately isn't a barrier to bingo players. In São Paulo only, more than 600 bingo houses continue to operate illegally in the city. The game it's very popular among Brazilians. The houses have employed many strategies to avoid being caught red-handed.

All of them functions in secret places, only known by the players, while some of them opt to change regularly their establishments to avoid being tracked by the police. The Public Ministry has already received information that the police members may be involved in the bingo's schemes, receiving money in order to avoid the closure of these places.

Jogo do Bicho

As the bingo scheme presented, the illegal games in Brazil became one lucrative business for criminals. The police and politicians are involved with criminals, taking advantage of the high amount of money involved in this “sector”. With jogo do bicho, there isn't any difference, the game is an illegal betting scheme in which individuals gamble over numbers that represents animals.

It was launched in 1892 by a Brazilian Baron in Rio. He was an owner of a zoo and that's how the game got his name: game of animal. The period, in which it was created, was marked by an intense financial speculation and gambling on the stock market that resulted in a trade crisis.

To stimulate sales, traders instituted raffles and premiums to buyers. The Baron watched these new ideas and decided to create a cash prize in the zoo. The visitor who receives an animal card equivalent to the one selected by the zoo in secrecy, would win the prize at the end of the day, when one of the 25 animals would be announced.

Brazil Online Gambling Marketing

Criminalization

Within that time, the animals started to be associated with numbers series of lotteries and the jogo do bicho started to be widely played outside the zoo. Currently, the game continues to be practiced on a large scale in the streets of major cities, even being considered a criminal practice by the Brazilian law. In 2013, the game completed 121 years of operation and 71 prohibitions by the Criminal Offences Act. The prohibitive legislation did not change the setting scenario of illegality of jogo do bicho in Brazil. According to the study of the portal BNLData, the game has an annual turnover of 12 billion BRL in bets.

Brazil Online Gambling Markets

Other Types of Gambling

Brazil Online Gambling Marketplace

  • Online gambling: nowadays, online gambling isn't an illegal practice in Brazil, although in 2013 the Commission of Science, Technology, Innovation, Communication, and Computing (CCT) approved a law project, which aims to prohibit online gambling throughout the country. According to the text, to establish, operate or exploit through internet bingo, betting, or any type of gambling is not allowed and may result in imprisonment from two to five years, and more fines.
  • Gambling in cruise ships: ships that have casinos can land in the country. Their passengers, if they were outside the territorial waters, are also allowed to gamble or play games of chance in the ship.
  • Gambling in other countries: there's also Las Vegas for those who want to gamble, but for Brazilian residents, it's easier to cross the frontier to a South American country with a less rigid legislation for gambling. Another alternative is the access of foreign gambling sites that offer casino-related games. The Brazilian government doesn't have control over these sites and that's why gamblers usually play their favorite games through them.