Unlike Brazil’s incumbent president, Jair Bolsonaro, who promised to veto the legalization of gaming, newly elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has promised to let such a bill stand—if passed.
Nicknamed “Lula,” the new president is returning to the presidency for a third term. He defeated Bolsonaro by a slim margin in the run-off election.
In his previous administrations, he was not hostile to legalization, but the sector did not advance. However, after the recent election, the Senate has promised to take up a legal framework for gaming.
Bolsonaro had threatened to veto such a bill while “Lula” has indicated he will respect it.
Lula’s record on gaming is mixed—in 2004 he closed the country’s bingo parlors. He also consolidated lotteries as the federal monopoly Caixa Econômica Federal (CEF). However, last year the Supreme Court ended the monopoly, opening the way for individual states to offer their own products.
Supporters of legalization want to bring it to a vote at the end of the National Congress’s session and before new House and Senate winners take their seats.
Bill 442/91 currently rests in the Senate after having been approved by the Chamber of Deputies in February 2022. It would legalize all forms of gaming, including bingo and sports betting. Despite not being a fan of gaming, Games Magazine Brasil expects the new president not to veto the bill. In his first speech after the election, Lula promised to respect the decisions of Congress.
Brazilian news agency BNLData reported: “We do not know the updated public opinion of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The former president was once, a strong supporter of the legalization of gambling, even stating it publicly on several occasions in the 2002 campaign and at the beginning of his government in 2003, but after the Waldomiro Diniz scandal, Lula and the Workers’ Party (PT) always avoided addressing the issue publicly. The atmosphere improved in 2016, when the Ministry of Tourism, at the request of the Planalto Palace, conducted a broad survey to assess the impacts of the eventual legalization of casinos in Brazil and the possible models of gambling operations.”
Supporters of the bill estimate that legalization would generate R$150 billion (US$28.5 billion) in taxable revenue.
Although gaming has not been legalized yet, President Bolsonaro had previously indicated he would, before leaving office, allow the Ministry of Justice to regulate sports betting, which had been under the Ministry of the Economy. This rivalry between the two ministries was seen as a block to regulation this year.
Bolsonaro’s defeat also calls into doubt whether these regulations will be implemented by the deadline. In that event, it would fall to the new administration to implement regulations.
The bill, Law 13,756/18, which legalized sports betting, awaits regulation, which must be done by December 12 of this year. BNLData reports that there is a draft of the regulatory decree ready to be implemented.
Per BNLData, “Brazil will face 60 days of transition, and we do not know if the executive will be willing to change the ministries to regulate the sector, or even to publish the rules to regulate sports betting. It would sound strange to transfer the regulation two months before the end of this term of the government. Besides, we will still have a World Cup in the meantime.”
Sports betting operators are hoping the regulations to be approved by the current government since next year’s legislators are expected to be more conservative. Games Magazine Brasil speculates that the sheer numbers of bookmakers, clubs that offer sports books, and associations that depend on sponsorships will pressure the new government to hit the gas pedal on regulation.
