Legislation

Brazil  – Brazilian President in favour of gaming legislation

By Phil - 19 February 2016

According to senators present at a meeting with President Dilma Rousseff earlier this week the President is in favour of new legislation which would green light gaming in Brazil. President Rousseff met with Senators on Monday to discuss proposals for recreating the CPMF – a tax on financial transactions.

The financial transaction tax was revoked on January 1, 2008 but the government plans on bringing it back in order to raise much needed revenue. Earlier this month President Rousseff addressed the congress to urge them to approve the new tax bill in order to balance the country’s finances and help reverse the recession.

According to the head of the Workers Party in the Senate Humberto Costa (Partido dos Trabalhadores) and Senator Hélio José from the Party of the Brazilian Woman (Partido da Mulher Brasileira) Rousseff pressed the leaders of her allied base in the Senate to approve the new tax and discussed other measures which would generate additional income including the new gaming bill which will soon be up for debate in the Senate.

While the main theme of the meeting on Monday was the CPMF, according to Humberto Costa, the proposal to legalise gaming and create rules for the operation of gambling in the country was also mentioned. According to Humberto Costa, the President welcomes the proposal because it would lead to an increase in government revenue.

“It’s a very positive form of collection of tax revenue, and of resuming the country’s development. Therefore, the President considers it an important project, but it was not discussed in depth,” said Senator Hélio José.

While there has been no official announcement from the President’s office on the issue it is the first time that Rousseff’s opinion on pro gaming legislation has been made public. In September 2015 Rousseff and several cabinet ministers met with party leaders from the alliance to discuss the issue to see if the new proposals would have their approval, according to statements made later by a number of lawmakers to local media.

Momentum is gathering for the new act which will be discussed shortly in the Senate. New gaming legislation is being debated as part of “Brazil Agenda” a set of new rules put forward by the President of the Senate, Renan Calheiros – a business-friendly agenda which is designed to provide a much needed boost to economic growth. The text of the new version of the bill would allow for 35 casinos, with at least one per state while some states would be permitted to have as many as three, depending on the population and the economic outlook in each state.