Gambling in Brazil: to regulate or not to regulate, that is the question

• Despite the fact the Chambers of Deputies approved the bill some time ago, the Senate has still not approved it.
• If the Senate approves the bill, it has to be ratified by the president before it passes into law, however, the president has made indications that he may not wish to ratify it. If this were to happen, the Senate can override it still but would need a certain number of votes to do so.
• In addition to all this there will be a general (presidential) election in Brazil, currently scheduled for 2 October 2022 which has thrown the process into limbo. Lúri Ribeiro da Silva e Castro, who is the undersecretary for competition at the Brazilian Ministry of Economy as well as the head of special affairs, lotteries and export processing zones, said that while the bill was at the centre of attention, he is unable to give a deadline for when the regulation will be enacted because of the ‘political’ dimension impacting it.

Project in progress

Regulated verticals

• Online casino – will see separate regulations emitted by the Ministry of Economy. What is being proposed at present is two significant things operators should take note of: (i) foreign URLs which are not authorised will be blocked (although particular means of blocking are yet to be identified) and (ii) those that are licensed will be required to have their servers physically present in Brazil.
• Land-based Casino – can only be established in places which constitute a ‘resort’ which includes at least 100 high-end hotel rooms and that has event venues, restaurant, bars and shopping malls. The casino may not take up more than 20% of the complex where it seeks to set up. There have also been talks about tendering these licences to the highest bidder.
• Sports betting and lottery – it is proposed for both to be outside of the bill and as such be subject to the requirements of the Ministry of Economy (similar to the online casino vertical).