Industry mobilizes to pressure government to tax bets

The National Confederation of Industry (CNI) launched, during the National Industry Forum (FNI), the manifesto “For the taxation of bets”, which proposes the creation of CIDE-Bets, a selective tax on the value of online betting. The document, presented on Tuesday (18), received 50 signatures from businesspeople and entities linked to the industrial sector.

The proposal suggests the establishment of CIDE-Bets with a rate of 15%, applied at the time of betting, as a way of balancing the tax burden between the digital betting market and other economic sectors.

According to the president of the CNI, Ricardo Alban, the proposal is to promote balance and tax justice between sectors. “While the industry faces a high burden and contributes directly to national development, the digital betting market pays less taxes and drains resources from the real economy.”

The industrial sector argues that online betting pays proportionally less taxes than activities essential to the economy, such as industry, agriculture and services.

The CNI estimates that, if the tax is approved in 2025, CIDE-Bets could generate R$8.5 billion in revenue in 2026. From 2027 onwards, the tax would be incorporated into the selective tax provided for in the tax reform. The measure also seeks to reduce the annual volume of bets, which could fall from R$70 billion to around R$56.6 billion, in addition to contributing to the fight against gaming addiction.

For Mário Sérgio, director of Economics at CNI, the proposal does not seek to restrict economic activities, but to ensure a more balanced tax treatment between different sectors.

“The focus is to promote tax justice and anticipate the selective taxation already approved and defined by Congress, which will affect online betting from 2027. Given the rapid growth of the sector and the socioeconomic impacts it has been causing, the entity proposes to anticipate this charge through the creation of CIDE-Bets — a visible tax for the bettor, which can help control the disorderly advance of betting and reduce its negative social effects”, he states.

The director also reinforced that the measure is not intended to make the betting market unviable, but to bring balance and tax equity, as is already the case in other industrial segments subject to selective taxes.