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Brazil – Deputies want wider debate on gaming

By - 24 April 2023

Lawmakers in the House of Deputies approved request 13/2023 put forward to the Tourism Commission, which seeks to discuss the legalization of casinos and games in Brazil. It was proposed by Washington Quaquá and Ricardo Abrão. The request urges lawmakers to look at gambling reform after the issue of casino gambling and other types of gambling lost momentum last year.

“The Brazilian State stopped collecting billions of reais in taxes and fees, which could finance public policies in areas such as tourism, culture, sports and leisure,” Deputy Quaquá said. Deputy Abrão remarked: “Many Brazilians travel abroad to play in casinos and they could very well have fun (and spend) in Brazil.”

When requesting the creation of the subcommittee, the deputies pointed out that the objective “is to study the legalization of gambling in Brazil, an issue that was booming in the last legislature, but lost strength.” With this, they hope to “accelerate the debate and propose legislative alternatives.”

The deputies also emphasised that “the discussion on the legalization of gambling in Brazil is back on the scene. Online betting has been gaining market and followers in our country, many of these bookmakers have been advertising on radio and television, sponsoring sports clubs, sporting events and other forms of sponsorship.”

According to the deputies the government has lost out on billions since gambling was outlawed over eighty years ago – money which could have been used to “finance public policies in the most diverse areas, including tourism, culture, sports, leisure, among others.”

A push for a wider gambling already seems to be gaining headway in both houses.  In March during a hearing a hearing on sports betting at the House Finance and Taxation Committee, deputy Newton Cardoso Jr. asked the Senate to process bill 2234/2022. PL 442/91, was passed in the lower house and is now in the senate under the name Law No. 2234/2022. During the meeting several deputies also asked that the senate submit the bill that establishes the regulatory framework for gaming in the country, which had already been approved by the House of Deputies after months of work.

The bill if approved would allow for an opening up of the market including integrated casinos, as well as casino riverboats, and bingo halls (with electronic bingo machines on site).  

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