Legislation

Brazil – Brazil’s President approves new sports betting rules

By Phil - 13 December 2018

New sports betting legislation is now finally law after the President of Brazil, Michel Temer, sanctioned Provisional Measure 846, during a ceremony at the Planalto Palace on Wednesday in Brasilia – the official workplace of the President of Brazil.

President Temer was accompanied by a number of lawmakers including the Minister of Sports, Leandro Cruz, the Minister of Culture Sérgio Sá Leitão, the Minister of Public Security, Raúl Jungmann and the Minister of Human Rights, Gustavo Rocha.
During the ceremony Temer underlined the importance lottery revenue will now have when it comes to public safety as well as other government branches.

He concluded by saying that: “What we should celebrate is the integration, the interaction between safety, sport and culture. This was a brilliant afternoon for public safety, for culture, for sport and, above all, for the Brazilian people.” Temer also underlined his commitment to the new bill via his official twitter account stating. “My Government today sanctioned the act that restructures the National Public Security Fund. This issue as we all know is fundamental and priority for Brazilians and our government.”

Last month the Brazilian Senate approved the bill to allow for sports betting on the internet and land based sports betting. The Initiative was included in Provisional Measure 846/18, which will also redistribute the resources of federal lotteries and provide more funding to the National Public Security Fund (FNSP). Both legislative chambers approved the project in less than 24 hours as the project had already gone through several modifications before being submitted to lawmakers for approval.

Provisional Measure 846 modifies the distribution of federal lottery resources operated by Brazil’s largest state owned bank and lottery operator –the Caixa Econômica Federal (CAIXA) so that part of income generated by lotteries is earmarked for public security. The new bill will provide a huge boost to government revenues especially when it comes to security.
The political agreement reached by the leaders of the blocs within both chambers enabled the approval in the Senate, less than 24 hours after being approved by the Chamber of Deputies. Having passed both legislative chambers, it only remained for the Executive branch to sanction it and sign it into law.