Brazil has inched closer to legalizing the provision of iGaming services, among others. A Senate Committee approved on Wednesday a bill that would allow for the creation of a legal framework that would regulate the country’s gambling market.
After being passed by the Special Committee on National Development, the proposed legislation is now set to be reviewed and voted on by the Senate. PLS 186/2014 was first introduced in 2014 by Senator Ciro Nogueira. However, it has been subjected to several amendments since then. The bill’s latest version permits sports betting, land-based gambling venues, including casinos and bingo halls, online gambling options, horse racing, and the highly popular but illegal animal game lottery, known as ‘jogo de bicho.’
Here it is important to note that the proposed legislation does not specify the type of online gambling options that will be allowed within the country’s borders, neither offers information on the exact number of land-based casinos that are to be constructed. A previous draft of the bill allowed for the establishment of up to 35 gambling venues of this type, with those being mainly concentrated in the country’s North, North-Eastern, and Central parts. The areas are known to be in serious need of economic boost.
The legalization and regulation of Brazil’s online gambling market is among the most highly anticipated developments within the international iGaming industry. The local market is believed to be one of great potential and major gambling operators have already expressed wide interest in it. Yet, although the latest draft of the proposed legislation does not contain specific details on the types of iGaming activities to be permitted, it does stipulate that Caixa Economica Federa, the country’s lottery operator, would have a monopoly over the provision of online sports betting services.
If PLS 186/2014 is passed into law, an operator to provide Caixa with the necessary sports betting technology will be selected via a tender process. With that said, international betting operators will probably have to wait a little longer than they might have wished for in order to be granted a Brazilian license.
Under the proposed bill, online gambling offering will be allowed across all known channels. Gambling options will be supervised by the Federal Government and by Caixa. The national lottery will be charged with granting licenses and keeping an eye on the way gambling options are provided to customers. According to media reports, interested operators will be able to bid for 25-year licenses and will have chance to have these renewed for another 25-year period.
As mentioned above, PLS 186/2014 will now go to Brazil’s Senate. It is yet to be determined when exactly the country’s top legislators will review and discuss the proposed legislation.
Brazil is currently one of the few countries with larger economies to have no gambling regulatory framework in place. It is believed that a legalized gambling industry may result in almost R$30 billion being generated in tax revenue for Brazil’s coffers within a three-year span, an amount that will certainly come as a significant boost to the country’s economy.
