After what seemed like a Brazilian version of Peanuts’ Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football—with gamblers the ones who got the ball snatched away time and time again—the largest country in South America has finally passed a sports betting and iGaming bill.
SBC Americas reported January 1 that Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed the bill into law, ending several years of uncertainty and delay that was compounded when former President Jair Bolsonaro refused to sign a previous iteration of a sports betting bill as a political favor for some of his conservative religious supporters. This required supporters of such a bill to start again from scratch.
The bill came after several rounds of compromises and amendments to the version that came out of the Chamber of Deputies, only to founder for months in the Senate. It took virtually all of the year 2023 to reach this point. The amendments address a spectrum of issues from taxes to gambling advertising and iGaming.
It empowers the Ministry of Finance to publish a set of regulations for both types of gambling.
The Senate was the focus of opposition to legalizing iGaming. Eventually an amended Bill PL3626/23 was sent back to the Chamber of Deputies so that it could approve the changes. On December 22, the lower house took the bill over the finish line during the final session of the year, allowing revenues from gambling taxation to begin flowing into government coffers this year.
The final vote was 261 for the bill and 120 against. Despite opposition in the Senate, the final version included the regulation of online casino games.
This made it possible for President Lula to sign the final bill before the end of the year. The new regulatory framework will allow the government to collect taxes from sports betting and online gambling and raise an estimated R$10 billion ($2.06 billion).
The president was able to put his fingerprints on the bill by vetoing certain objectionable sections, such as ones that gave a tax exemption to betting prizes of less than R$2,112 ($435).
Surviving the 100 proposed amendments and vetoes by the president were the 12 percent tax of gross gaming revenue (GGR) and 15 percent tax of player winnings first proposed by the Senate’s Economic Affairs Commission (CAE).
Monies raised will be allocated to sports ministries and committees, tourism, public safety, education and social security, among others.
Casino and sports gambling operators will be able to apply for a five-year license from the Ministry of Finance for a fee of R$30 million ($6 million). This allows the operator to have up to three websites or mobile apps. All license holders must have a home presence in the country. They must have a resident of Brazil on their board and Brazilian stakeholders must account for at least 20 percent of capital.
This has the potential to create one of the largest sports betting and online gambling markets in the world and certainly the largest in South America. SBC Americas reports that more than 130 companies have shown an interest in applying for a license.
