Brazil to close online gambling loophole
New draft bill could see judges granted power to request domestic ISPs block access to gambling sites
Brazil is preparing to close a legal loophole which could see egaming operators prevented from accepting bets from Brazilian residents during this summer’s World Cup and beyond.
The recently submitted Internet Civil Landmark Bill of Law, dubbed locally as ‘The Internet Constitution’, would give Brazilian judges the power to issue an injunction on gaming sites deemed to be breaking the law.
“If this Bill of Law is approved, any public attorney may file for an injunction before a Brazilian court asking for the blocking of foreign gaming websites,” Luiz Felipe Maia, gaming lawyer at Brazilian legal firm Oliveira Ramos, Maia, said.
Any such injunction would mean domestic internet service providers would have to block access to the website. “In this case, these international operators would have to defend the legality of their activity,” Maia added.
Under current law, Article 1.087 of the Brazilian Civil Code states that a contract that requires an offer and its acceptance “ such as a wagering contract “ is subject to the jurisdiction in which the offer originated from.
This has enabled operators licensed in jurisdictions such as Malta and Gibraltar to offer online gambling services to people in Brazil “ where online gambling remains largely prohibited “ as Brazilian courts are bound to apply the law of these jurisdictions.
However the new bill would grant Brazilian authorities the opportunity to close the loophole, significantly disrupting an online market said to be valued at more than £500m per year.
The draft bill, which was approved by the Brazilian Congress on 25 March, has since been submitted to Brazil’s federal senate and could be passed into law within the next 30 to 60 days.
The bill has caused controversy in Brazil, with opponents fearing it may open the floodgates to online censorship.
Brazil’s president Dilma Vana Rousseff has pressed for the bill to be passed urgently in order to monitor social networks which could be used to organise protests and riots in the country in the lead up to this summer’s FIFA World Cup.