Although Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro plans to veto such legislation, he said he expects Congress to pass a Gaming Regulatory Framework over his veto next month and for it to become law.
During an interview broadcast January 17 the president commented “Parliament will approve and I am convinced that if I veto it, they will overturn it. My position as Chief Executive is that gambling is not welcome in Brazil. It’s a gate that opens and we don’t know what might happen afterwards.”
Lawmakers have tried to pass such a regulatory framework for 31 years. It is expected to be on the voting agenda of the Chamber of Deputies when it returns to work in February.
The bill is being carried by Felipe Carreras, who last year argued the need to regulate the industry so it will generate more jobs and the country can tax it. It has been estimated that illegal games account for more than R$ 27 billion ($27 million) annually compared to the R$ 17.1 billion generated by officially-sanctioned games.
Meanwhile, the government is preparing to issue regulations governing eSports and daily fantasy sports in the country. Currently both are unregulated in Brazil.
The proposal for the decree came from the Ministry of Economy late in 2021 and is being generated by the Civil House. Originally the Chamber of Deputies was going to include DFS in its gaming project, but pulled away from that idea.
One city that is hoping to have a casino if they are legalized is Foz do Iguaçu, in the Brazilian state of Paran. Several representatives from the city are pressing for legalization. One lawmaker, Deputy Vermelho commented recently, “Foz do Iguaçu needs to be contemplated with a casino in order to guarantee the permanence of visitors for a longer period. Many will bet in the countries where gaming already operates, such as Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina.” Several casinos already operate in the parts of Argentina and Paraguay, which also border the Foz do Iguaçu.
The Working Group of the Tourism Commission has been working on the wording for the legislation. One deputy told Portal da Cidade Foz, “Brazil already has the jogo do bicho and some online games operating outside the law, evading taxes and leaving workers without guarantees. We need to legalize the games to generate formal jobs and increase the collection to invest in the social.”
One study has estimated that legalized gaming could generate R$ 20 billion ($3.6 billion) a year in taxes and up to 700,000 jobs. It could also give a boost to tourism.
