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Brazil – Brazilian Senate could authorise 35 casinos immediately

By - 8 December 2015

A proposal authored by Senator Ciro Nogueira which seeks to establish a regulatory framework for the legalisation of both land based and online gaming could be voted on today (Wednesday 9).

The report on the text was introduced by Senator Maggi last week and will be put before the Special Committee on National Development for approval.

Put forward by the Senator with a number of amendments, the bill legalises casinos, “the animal game” and bingo as part of “Brazil Agenda” a set of new rules put forward by the President of the Senate, Renan Calheiros.

The bill could be passed so quickly because instead of being a mere recommendation, the commission has a special mandate and carries more weight which means that if the gaming law is approved by the committee then it does not need to go before the Senate floor for a vote. Instead it will go straight for analysis in the Chamber of Deputies where gaming is already being discussed in a special public hearing which has been convened to discuss proposals surrounding the possible legalisation of gambling in the future.

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. Casinos will only be permitted in hotel leisure complexes with venues for meetings and events, restaurants, bars and shopping centres. Licences will be granted for 30 years and tender proposals for licences will be judged on the total investment for the leisure complex as well as the number of jobs the project would create. Under the proposal, the casino will be allowed to encompass up to 10 per cent of the total built area of the total complex.

The bill also allows for a bingo hall per every 250,000 inhabitants of the municipality where it is located while only one bingo hall would be permitted with cities with less than 250,000 inhabitants. In addition each bingo hall would be allowed to house a maximum of up to 50 electronic bingo machines on site.

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