Senate edges towards vote on casino and gambling bill in Brazil says senator

Senator Irajá Abreu has said that the Federal Senate may vote, before the July parliamentary recess, on the bill that regulates games of chance in Brazil. The proposal authorises the operation of casinos and bingo halls, legalises the “jogo do bicho” numbers game, and permits betting on horse racing.

As rapporteur for the measure, the senator said he was confident of building an agreement among party leaders so that the text can be examined by the full Senate in the coming weeks. The recess is scheduled to begin on 18 July.

According to the senator, regulation would allow the activity to be supervised by public authorities, as well as generating jobs, tax revenues and boosting domestic tourism.

“I am absolutely convinced that we have the necessary support in the Federal Senate, because this is a strategic activity for our economy and will generate foreign exchange for our Brazilian state. We are talking about an activity that will boost a large, dormant industry in Brazil, which is tourism. Gambling, as happened in all OECD countries, the G20, in Europe, Asia, and the United States, doubled the flow of tourists who began visiting these countries after the legalization of responsible gambling,” the senator said in an interview with Rádio Senado.

However the bill has met with significant resistance amongst lawmakers. Bill 2234/2022 has been on the Senate plenary’s agenda since the Constitution and Justice Committee approved the senator’s report on 19 June 2024 by 14 votes to 12.

On 17 December 2025 the plenary rejected an urgency request, filed by party leaders, by 36 votes to 28.

The bill sets a tightly structured model for land‑based gambling in Brazil, allowing casinos only in integrated resort‑style leisure complexes with capped floor space, strict state‑by‑state limits on the number of licences (including special higher caps for São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Amazonas and Pará), and additional licences for ship‑based casinos tied to river length, all awarded via competitive bidding and backed by high minimum capital and long, fixed licence terms.

It opens the way for bingo halls in municipalities and large stadiums subject to minimum size, machine‑type restrictions, population‑based caps and substantial capital requirements, and creates a regulated framework for the traditional “jogo do bicho” street lottery and horse‑race betting, each with population‑based limits on operators, territorial confinement and mandatory online records accessible in real time through a new audit system.

Across all verticals, the proposal introduces dedicated sector taxes—a Gaming and Betting Inspection Fee and an Economic Intervention Contribution (Cide‑Jogos), the latter charged at up to 17% of operators’ gross revenue—aimed at funding oversight and capturing fiscal benefits from newly legalised gambling.