Lira demands Brazil sports betting bill be presented this week

The president of the Chamber of Deputies is putting pressure on the government to define final terms for the regulated market.

Brazil.- Arthur Lira, the president of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, has said that the final bill to regulate Brazil’s sports betting market must be presented this week. Describing it as a matter of “constitutional urgency”, he said a formal text needed to be presented by September 9 as he aims to clear the chamber’s voting schedule for the final months of the year.

Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a provisional measure on sports betting on July 25 but the text of the final federal bill has yet to be published and is still being reviewed by Congress, with details on betting integrity, consumer rights and safer gambling protections and advertising regulations needing to be defined.

The Congress has received more than 200 amendments from Deputies. The most notable demands are for the government to reevaluate the proposed tax regime, which currently comprises an 18 per cent tax on operators’ gross income and a 30 per cent tax on player winnings over BRL 2,112 (€440).

Lira’s intervention means that Congress will reduce its review of the government’s provisional measures from 120 days to 45. Lira also denied an extension to the CPI Parliamentary Commission investigating match-fixing and corruption in Brazilian football, ordering it to submit its report by September 28.

Separately, the government is waiting on amendments on sports betting advertising to be proposed by the National Council for Advertising Self-Regulation (CONAR). Last week, deputy Ricardo Ayres, who represents the state of Tocantins, sponsored a bill in the National Congress that proposes additional advertising restrictions.

Bill 3915/2023 proposes amendments to Provisional Measure No.1182 to ban on the promotion and advertising of betting casino brands by “digital influencers and artists”. Media outlets would be required to monitor ads and remove unauthorised content.

The bill also proposes tougher penalties for advertising breaches, including progressive fines based on an operator’s revenue in the prior year, asset reversals, and business suspensions for up to eight years. Fines would be redistributed to educational projects such as the Student Financing Fund (FIES) and the University for All Program (ProUni).