“If it were up to me, I’d hit the stop button. No amount of tax revenue justifies the mess we’ve landed in” – a statement expressed plainly by Brazil’s Finance Minister, Fernando Haddad, on the launch and progress of the Bets regime.
The comments have riled sensitivities among Bets stakeholders, as Haddad is recognized as a principal architect of the nascent gambling regime, whose laws, frameworks, and policies have been under constant scrutiny and change since its federal application on 1 January.
Yet, speaking to economist Eduardo Moreira, Haddad presented himself as a reluctant steward of Bets and its mandate to transform Brazil from a grey to a regulated marketplace.
