Members of Brazil's IBJR agree to speed up the credit card ban to October.

 The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR) have both told their members to make the ban on using credit cards to gamble earlier.  The members of the IBJR have all agreed to speed up the ban.
 Anjl ibjr credit for Brazil
 When Brazil's legal online betting market opens on January 1, 2025, Normative Ordinance No. 615, which came out in April, said that credit cards, cryptocurrencies, cash, payment slips, and checks could not be used to bet.

 But from October 1, only businesses that are already working in Brazil and have applied for a betting licence will be able to keep doing business.

 After talking with the ministry of finance, both the ANJL and the IBJR have asked their members to willingly bring forward the ban on credit cards.  “My members make up about 70% of the betting market in Brazil,” says the IBJR. This move fits with their larger goal of making sure the betting market in the country is safe.

 The ANJL said that almost all of its members have already taken away credit cards as a way to bet.

 Before the credit ban starts on January 1, 2025, the different sports groups are worried about how players who bet with credit cards will handle their money during the transition period from October 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024.

 If you want to protect consumers and the state, IBJR strongly thinks that regulation is the best and most effective way to deal with these problems, as stated in a LinkedIn post.

 "As the most important trade group, we are ready to help find solutions that meet both government needs and public expectations."

 Being criticised more and more in Brazil's betting industry
 Recently, there has been more and more pressure on Brazil's gambling industry from both the government and the business sector. This is mostly because of concerns about the social and financial effects of betting on weaker members of society.

 Before the deadline in October was set, Isaac Sidney, head of the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban), insisted that the ban should start earlier to protect players as soon as possible.

 But the ANJL made it clear that this growing pressure wasn't why it told its members to bring the ban forward.

 It also said that most bettors use the quick payment service Pix instead of credit cards.

 In an email shared with iGB, the ANJL said, "This is not a response to criticism from other sectors."  "Payment by card is almost nonexistent in the business world already."

 "By giving players Pix, we are supporting a practice that is already in wide use by the operators."  That being said, the ANJL knows that it is best for everyone if credit cards are no longer a choice.

 How common is it for Brazilian punters to use credit cards?
 Different people have different ideas about how popular it is to use credit to gamble.

 The ANJL says that less than 3% of all bets made on its members' sites are paid for with credit, and the IBJR says that credit accounts for about 0.5% of all deposits.

 But on Thursday (September 26), Central Bank president Roberto Campos Neto said that credit card payments for online gambling still made up 10% to 15% of all transactions.

 But Campos Neto doesn't know what the number is. He told Folha, "Sometimes you can use a digital wallet to pay with a credit card."  The transaction is handled by the digital wallet, and the credit card company can't see what is being bought.

 "If we only look at the credit card channel, we can't always be sure that certain credit card was not used to buy that item."

 What do the ANJL and IBJR smoothing relationships look like?
 The release of new data has added fuel to the fire of worries that the future rules on betting will hurt the Brazilian people's finances.

 According to a study by market research firm Hibou, 10% of Brazilians had lost money because of gambling. However, data from Yield Sec showed that legal operators could only cover 9% of Brazil's entire online betting market.

 Last week, the ANJL responded in an open letter to a study from the Brazilian Society of Retail and Consumption (SBVC) that caused a lot of controversy. The study said that 23% of people who responded were playing away money that they were supposed to spend on food, clothes, and medicine.

 The ANJL replied with data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showing that family spending in the country went up 1.3% in Q2 compared to the previous quarter and 4.9% compared to the same time last year.

 Then, last week, 15 businesses and organisations in Brazil's retail and industry sectors signed a document called "Proposal for the Nation." It called for stricter rules on advertising and changes to taxes.

 In answer, the ANJL said again that it was committed to a safe betting market and asked that they, the government, and key private sector industries in Brazil work together even more.

 The IBJR agreed and said, "IBJR is formalising requests for meetings with government agencies such as the ministry of industry and commerce, the central bank, the ministry of health, and the ministry of social development so that we can work together to talk about effective ways to lessen the possible bad effects of gaming and betting in Brazil."