Brazil’s Outgoing President Signs Sports Betting Bill

Sports Betting on the Way Out

Outgoing Brazilian President Michel Temer has just ratified the long-debated piece of legislation that officially makes sports betting a regulated and allowed industry in the country. The implications of the move are quite significant with Provisional Measure 846/18 now being signed into law.

The bill is laying the groundwork for how the industry will contribute to social responsibility initiatives, sporting bodies, education, and more. All of the money will be risen in a centralized manner, with the state’s regulator, Loterias Caixa, or Lotex collecting the sums.

Moving forward, Congress will have two years in which it will debate and develop a completed framework which will help keep the industry in check and lay the groundwork for responsible gambling.

While Congress will oversee the general direction of the regulations, it will be ultimately the Ministry of Finance that will focus on couching the decisions in more technical terms. Any contentious points will also be settled by the Ministry, which will serve as a regulator alongside other bodies.

The idea behind the legalization of the industry is not to consolidate control in the hands of specific parties. Quite on the opposite, Brazil wants to open up its market and make it highly-competitive, allowing companies to vie for a share of the market.

Brazil has decided to speed things along by not spending time bickering over the nature of sports betting. Most other newly-regulated markets usually had to decide whether they wanted to pass online sports betting as part of their legislation.

Full Support for Sports Betting in Brazil

The country has decided unanimously in favor, both in the lower and higher legislative circles. Brazil is also making serious, but fair demands from its bookmakers. Of the total handle, 80% must be disbursed back in the form of winnings. Another 6% will be split between a number of regulators and other watchdogs that ensure the security and integrity of the industry.

Author of the bill, Pará Senator Flexa Ribeiro

Of the aforementioned 6%, 2.5% will be directed in the way of the National Public Security Force (FNSP) with another 2% allocated directly to football teams, 1% will go to public schools, and the remainder between be divvied up between others. Operators’ own revenue, as a result, is capped at 8%.

The Provisional Measure, as it has been known in the press, is one of the pivotal changes in Brazilian regulation when it comes to sports betting. Authored by Pará Senator Flexa Ribeiro, the bill hopes to bolster social causes as well as bring a lot of foreign investment into Brazil as well as lead to job creation.

Latin America seems to be well-poised to benefit from the legalization of sports betting up North where the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a ban PASPA back in May 2018. Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital province has also okayed a plan to legalize online casinos on its territory and the National Basketball Association (NBA) entered a partnership in Uruguay.