Legislation
Brazil – Brazil’s Gambling Bill gathers momentum under new administration
By Phil - 17 June 2019
Author of gambling bill PLS 186/2014 and President of the of the Progressive Party, Senator Ciro Nogueira has met with Economy Minister Paulo Guedes to request government support for his proposal to legalise gambling in Brazil.
It was the first time that Guedes held a meeting on the issue since Jair Bolsonaro became president. In the almost one-hour meeting, Nogueira outlined data revealing that illegal gambling generates almost R$20bn (US$ 5.2bn) illegally every year. “Our goal is that the population can at least get the benefits of this practice,’ said the senator who has been a key player in developing gaming laws over recent years.
The senator told the Minister of Economy that a regulated industry could lead to more than 600 thousand direct jobs. According to the senator, 20 million Brazilians bet daily only on the local popular street lottery ‘jogo do bicho’ or ‘animal game. ’
Nogueira posted a photo of the meeting on social networks afterwards and wrote: “Not having gaming is not an option, so we need to ensure that the population has a return on that activity, with resources that could make a big difference in the area of public safety, for example.”
The Ministry of Economy was accompanied by Senator Irajá Abreu and Deputy Guilherme Mussi during the meeting.
In 2014 Nogueira, put forward legislation that would authorise the animal game, casinos, bingo halls and betting around the country. The bill seeks to establish clear rules when it comes to both the online industry and the land based industry.
PLS 186/2014 was rejected in December 2016 with senators voting 44 votes in favour and 19 against with senators voting that it be returned for further analysis. A committee ultimately rejected the bill in March 2018 arguing that it could encourage criminal practices. However the project can still be analysed by another committee or go directly to a vote in the plenary if the pres
