Brazil’s Senate finally broke a logjam that was holding up legislation that would legalize sports betting in the giant South American republic—which has just as giant of a potential sports betting market. The Chamber of Deputies has already acted on the legislation that the president proposed, Casino.org reported November 8.
But there was a delay that put the future of legalized sports betting in doubt. The Senate Sports Commission without warning or explanation canceled a meeting that had been scheduled to vote on the Federal Sports Betting and Online Gambling Bill – PL 3626/2023.
However, after Rodrigo Pacheco, the president of the Senate, intervened to increase the licensing period from three to five years, the Sports Commission approved the draft regulations, SBC Americas reported.
The legislation could be voted on in the Senate on Tuesday, November 21.
Pacheco said in a statement: “It would not be possible to evaluate the planned projects if it were not for the initiative of the leaders of the Federal Government, and of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva himself, to promote the elimination of the constitutional urgency imposed on the bill.”
President Silva published the Provisional Measure in July after five years of debates. The Chamber of Deputies approved it and it’s now under consideration by the Economic Affairs Commission. If it approves the legislation it will move to the Senate Plenary for a final vote.
The Senate was given 120 days to review the proposals.
The main bone of contention in passing the legislation has been marketing and sponsorships, with the Sports Commission arguing that the country’s soccer clubs should be banned from sponsorships with sports betting operators.
On November 13, 39 of the 40 professional soccer clubs signed a petition demanding that the Senate reject Amendment 38-U, which proposes a ban on sports betting sponsorships.
The petition says: “The Clubs request that the Economic Affairs Commission and the Plenary of this respectful Senate reject the harmful Amendment No. 38-U to PL No. 3,626/2023, thereby protecting Brazilian football and the principles of free enterprise and freedom to contract.”
The amendment, authored by Senator Eduardo Girão states: ‘Teams, individual athletes, former athletes, referees, members of professional and amateur technical committees of all sports, as well as championships organized by Olympic sports confederations, recognized and linked to the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), and the federations affiliated with them of all sports modalities’ will be excluded from gambling sponsorships.”
It would also restrict broadcast and social media advertising of sports betting from midnight to 6 a.m. and ban ads in sports arenas and through sponsorships.
The clubs say the ban would take away a primary source of income for Brazilian soccer and interfere with existing contracts.
The bill also calls for 18 percent tax for sportsbook companies and online casinos. This issue is being hashed out in secret meetings—with some lawmakers calling for reducing the rate to 12 percent for sports betting, but keeping the 18 percent for online gaming. Some would like to make sports betting deliberations totally separate from online gaming.
Complicating the deliberations were the more than 100 amendments that were submitted. Sports Commission president Senator Romário de Souza Faria rejected all but 20 of them.
Some opposition to the bill in the Senate dates back to former President Jair Bolsonaro, who opposed sports betting, but lost his reelection bid last year.
Some opponents are also citing an unofficial survey on the Senate’s website where 1,305 have voted in opposition to the bill, compared to 19 for it. This is at odds with an actual scientifically conducted poll by Aposta Legal Brasil and OpinionBox that indicated 64 percent support a bill.
The government continues to pave the way for the launch of the online gaming market. In October the Ministry of Finance published “required ordinances” for businesses seeking to join the market. They have until November 26 to submit their notices of intent to file for an online gambling license.
