Brazilian Senate to debate land-based gambling legalisation
Bill 2,234/2022 proposes land-based casinos, bingo halls and gambling at racecourses.
Brazil.- The Brazilian Senate is to debate bill 2,234/2022, which proposes federal rules for land-based casinos, horseracing betting and jogo do bicho instant win sales. The Senate Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) took up the bill yesterday (Wednesday).
As the bill’s name suggests, it was presented two years ago. First introduced by the then deputy Renato Vianna, it has been resubmitted by a new sponsor, senator Irajá Abreu. The bill would authorise land-based casinos, bingo, horseracing and jogo do bicho at the federal level. Abreu says this would transfer gambling to state control.
For land-based casinos, the bill would reverse President Gaspar Dutra’s 1946 ban. Venues would be allowed in areas of tourism within integrated leisure complexes. There would be a limit of one casino per state and with exceptions for São Paulo, which could have three, and the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Amazonas and Pará, which could each host two. Casinos would also be permitted on waterways. Operators would need to show paid-up share capital of at least 100m reales for a 30-year licence.
Bingo halls would be allowed with one venue for every 700,000 inhabitants in each state. Licences in this case would last for 25 years. Horseracing operations would be run by Ministry of Agriculture-accredited racecourses and would be allowed to host bingo and gambling machines.
Sports betting and Brazil’s new gambling regulator
Meanwhile, Brazil’s Ministry of Finance has set out a timetable for the creation of policies for the new gambling regulator, the Prizes and Betting Secretariat (SPA). While the ministry has yet to appoint a president for the SPA, it has clarified that there will be four phases for the creation of regulatory policies.
Phase one will involve ordinances on technical provisions and general rules on payment systems and the security of betting systems, commercial authorisation procedures, the operation of fixed-odds betting, and certification requirements. Phase two in May will involve further ordinances on money laundering and crime prevention and rules related to customer rights.
Phase three in June will see the publication of ordinances on technical and security requirements for online gaming, monitoring and supervisory rules and sanctions for breaches in the lottery sector. Finally, in July, phase four would see ordinances on responsible gambling, including measures for the monitoring and prevention of pathological gambling and rules on social allocations.
