SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
It appears that Brazilian betting stakeholders will have to wait until 2018, for any clarity with regards to a new national gambling framework, as this week Brazil’s Senate has stalled on its decision to progress federal level betting provisions.
Brazilian Media reports detail that legal stakeholder the Constitutionality and Justice Committee (CCJ) was meant to approve Bill 186 this Wednesday, but was stalled by state senators’ arguing last-minute tax levies.
The senators have put forward new provisions, demanding that all gambling enterprises should require a local partnership taxed with a 30% state charge on gambling services.
CCJ judges have moved to delay the decision on Bill 186’s progress, as the committee reviews impacts of gambling at a state level. Furthermore, news sources report that the committee may restrict certain gambling services such as ‘slots being serviced outside of casino properties’.
In order to gain the CCJ’s approval, Bill 186 needs 14 votes needed to clear its 27-member committee, however 12 judges have stated that they will not back the bill in its current format.
A further delay to Bill 186 progress will frustrate Brazil’s pro betting lobby, which had outlined 2017 as the year of implementation as a new gambling framework was backed by new President Michel Temer’s administration seeking to raise much needed federal funds for national initiatives.
Following two years of reviewing Bill 186 provisions, its appears that 2017 has been yet another false dawn for Brazilian gambling to readjust and modernise for a new consumer and business context.
