Legislation
Brazil – Senate Committee approves Brazilian amendments
By Phil - 21 December 2015
The Special Committee on National Development has approved Senate Bill Brazil 186/2014 which seeks to establish a regulatory framework for the legalisation of both land based and online gaming.
The Committee approved the amendments to the bill which had been added earlier this month which now means that the bill is now past the Senate stage and will go to the House of Deputies for debate. The act is being debated as part of “Brazil Agenda” a set of new rules put forward by the President of the Senate, Renan Calheiros – a business-friendly agenda which is designed to provide a much needed boost to economic growth.
The bill is a revised version of a bill initially put forward by Senator Ciro Nogueira in 2014 which proposes the legalisation of casinos, bingo halls, slot parlours and the popular “Jogo do Bicho” or “Animal Game.” The text defines the types of gaming that can be played in Brazil, the criteria for how licences are to be granted and the rules for the distribution of prizes as well as how gaming is to be taxed in the future.
Senator Nogueira claims that regulation is necessary as Brazil loses out on around R$15bn a year in tax revenue and included the Animal Game as it could not be “swept under the rug” any longer and that it was “inconsistent to give special treatment to the animal game and at the same time allow for regulatory arrangements for existing federal lotteries today.”
Senator Otto Alencar reiterated his support for the bill and quoted his colleague Senator Antonio Anastasia, who had pointed out during the last meeting that gaming was lawful in highly developed countries. “If it works in Canada, the United States, Germany and France, why can’t it work in Brazil?” Mr. Alencar said.
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. The commission has a special mandate and carries more weight. Now that it is approved in full it will go straight for analysis in the Chamber of Deputies.
