Legislation
Brazil – Government wants to speed up the approval of its sports betting bill
By James - 23 October 2023
The Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, stated that the government was working with the expectation that the senate will approve its online sports betting bill this month.
“We are going to work to see if we can vote as quickly as possible on regulating the rate for electronic betting”, announced Padilha. The regulation of betting is one of the priority projects of the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad.
Initially, the Federal Government’s project only dealt with online sports betting, but during its processing in the lower house online casinos were included in the bill. Brazil’s sports betting bill has begun its evaluation period in both the Committee on Economic Affairs (CAE) and the Sports Committee (CEsp) in the senate. The proposal was marked by the government as urgent, with an expiration date set for the beginning of November.
The proposal is part of the government’s package of measures to raise revenues and meet the goal of zero deficit next year. Brazil’s fiscal framework targets a zero primary deficit in 2024, followed by surpluses in subsequent years, as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva seeks a sustainable trajectory for the country’s public debt. The government predicts that the new regulations could provide its 2024 budget with over 1.65bn reais ($335.65m).
