Pacheco confirms CPI das Bets in the Senate; find out how it will work

The President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG)informed the plenary of the House, this Tuesday (8), that he had received a request, authored by the senator Soraya Thronicke (Podemos-MS)to install a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) with the aim of investigating the influence of online betting games — the so-called “bets” — on family budgets.

“The application contains a sufficient number of subscribers,” Pacheco told parliamentarians, in the Senate plenary, shortly before the vote that approved the nomination of economist Gabriel Galípolo for the presidency of the Central Bank (BC).

According to Pacheco, the Bets CPI should have 11 full members and 7 substitutes and will also investigate the “possible association” of bets with criminal organizations and the use of influencers in company advertisements.

The CPI must offer conclusions within 130 days, with an expense limit of R$110,000.

Galípolo commented on the topic on Saturday

During his hearing at the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee (CAE), the economist Gabriel Galípolowhose nomination for BC presidency was approved by the plenary, commented on the “betting epidemic” in the country.

“The Central Bank does not deal with or does not have any type of responsibility over the regulation of bets, it is not the role of the Central Bank,” Galípolo told the senators.

According to the economist, the BC’s role in relation to this issue “is much more about trying to understand what the impact of this is on consumption and family debt”.

“(We have to understand) How can we explain the relationship between economic activity, expenses and the impact on inflation, which is also related to the topic of tax reform”, stated Galípolo.

“It is necessary for us to delve deeper into studies to find out what the impact of the tax reform is on market prices, especially how these distributions will occur between sectors, for example, services and industry, and also between consumption and investment. So, it’s not simple, because we don’t have the final wording, we don’t know what the final solution is. And, even with the final solution, as a physicist said, making projections is always very difficult, especially about the future”, he continued.

“So, it is a process of trying to grope for these changes, but, certainly, it is attention that the Central Bank has taken, given and even provoked so that academic circles and other institutions can carry out studies, so that we can gather more information about this type of impact.”

R$20 billion per month

According to a survey released by the Central Bank (BC), Brazilians spent around R$20 billion per month on bets between January and August 2024. In total, approximately 24 million people made at least one Pix for companies of online betting in the first eight months of this year.

In August alone, it is estimated that 5 million people who belong to families benefiting from Bolsa Família sent R$3 billion to online betting companies, using Pix. The average amount spent per person was R$100.

(With Estadão Content)