Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies have voted in favor of legalized gambling and establishing a regulated market throughout the country.
The vote was due to take place on February 22nd but was pushed back to the 23rd. Deputies voted 246-202 in favor of Bill 442/1191 legalizing a variety of gambling forms for the first time since a country-wide ban on all gambling too effect in 1946.
Incredibly, the bill was first introduced more than three decades ago and has been discussed and amended throughout the years until it was finally approved yesterday.
The bill legalizes casino gaming, online gambling, horse racing betting, slot machines, bingo, and the locally played gambling game of jogo de bicho. The use of credit cards to gamble will be prohibited and all gambling winnings must be taxed at 15%.
Each of Brazil’s 26 states are now allowed to accept applications for gambling licenses for integrated casino resorts with São Paulo having up to three casinos and Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Bahia allowed to open two casinos each. Every other state in the country will be allowed to open one integrated casino resort.
The licenses will be available through a bidding process with the highest bidder receiving the license while no operator can receive two licenses in the same state or more than five in total.
The bill sets out licensing fees of BRL$600,000 (€106,800/$119,700) for each resort while online gambling operators will pay the same fee for each licensed gambling domain. Bingo gaming licenses are set at BRL$20,000 (€3,517/$3,927) per establishment while operators who want to host jogo de bicho games must pay a quarterly fee of BRL$20,000 (€3,517/$3,927).
The legislation also permits the blocking of unlicensed international websites while servers for locally licensed iGaming domains must be located in Brazil.
As part of the legislation, a new regulator, the SINAJ will be created to oversee the industry while a National Register of the Prohibited (RENAPRO) will also be created to help problem gamblers self-exclude from casinos and iGaming platforms.
The bill is set to go before the Senate today and if approved will go to the desk of President Jair Bolsonaro before being passed into law. The President has powers to veto the bill has previously indicated that he is prepared to do so. However, the Senate has special powers allowing it to overrule a veto if required.
Based in London, Natasha is a former sports journalist with experience working for some of the biggest athletes & brands in the world of sports and iGaming.