Brazil sports betting vote to take place on 12 December
Senate president Rodrigo Pacheco confirms new voting date following Senate’s failure to give greenlight to legislation in late November
The planned vote on legalising Brazil’s online gambling market will take place next week, Tuesday 12 November, following confirmation from Senate president Rodrigo Pacheco.
The new date was confirmed yesterday, 6 November, during a deliberative session in which Brazilian senators agreed to vote on bill PL 3,626/2023.
The new voting date comes after it was set to be rescheduled at the end of November due to concerns raised over the regulation of igaming, despite estimates suggesting that the vertical could generate BRL$10bn (£1.6bn) in revenue per year.
The government said the funds raised by the regulation would help close the fiscal deficit.
In this previous session, which took place on 29 November, concerns were raised by some senators that the regulation would allow for releasing “online casinos without supervision”.
Senator Omar Aziz said: “We are voting for an online casino. It’s not just a football game. There will be a machine, blackjack and roulette.”
Those in favour of the regulation argued that the new bill does not create these new verticals and is only regulating Law 13,756 from 2018, as well as guaranteeing the government revenue from games that are already up and running.
Prior to the vote’s postponement, the Brazilian Economic Affairs Commission approved PL 3,626/2023, which saw GGR tax on operators fall from 18% to 12%.
A proposed tax of 30% of players’ winnings was also halved to 15%.
EGR recently examined the journey Brazilian sports betting regulation has been on earlier this year, with insight from leading operators and lawyers.