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Brazil’s Senate battled it out over a sweeping gaming expansion bill during a thematic debate on Thursday (August 8), with various parties demonising or advocating for the regulation of the rest of the gambling industry following the legalisation of online betting and casino games.
Thematic debates in Brazil are special sessions of Congress meant to discuss topics of national relevance, enabling senators to air their opinions on key topics and receive testimony from expert witnesses.
A Senate vote is not expected until October on Bill 2234/2022, which would legalize land-based casino-resorts and bingo halls and was already approved by the lower house of Congress in February 2022.
In his first testimony before Congress, Regis Dudena, Brazil's newly appointed secretary of prizes and betting, urged senators to adopt “regulations based on data and evidence”.
He specifically requested “regulatory symmetry” between the regulations for sports betting and online casino games adopted under December's Law 14.790 and new legislation to also license land-based gaming facilities.
Comparing proposed regulatory fees for land-based bingo halls and casinos to those in place for online gambling websites, Dudena called for lawmakers to “find a correlation with what has been done in betting, including for inspection fees”.
“Here we are talking about a sector that has a very large physical presence, which will require a lot of resources from the public sector and which has, in the bill, inspection fees that are lower than those charged for the fixed-odds betting sector, which is mostly done digitally,” Dudena said.
Andre Rolim, a recovered gambling addict, was invited to speak to the Senate by Senator Eduardo Girão, who has historically opposed gambling. In contrast, a hotelier who espoused the merits of casinos for the economy was invited to testify by Senator Irajá, the rapporteur of Bill 2234/2022 and an advocate of gaming expansion.
A psychiatrist who specialises in gambling addiction also spoke to senators, sharing specific recommendations to help the pending law effectively address problem gambling.
Dr. Hermano Tavares said he has observed that increased access to gaming has already led to an increase in the number of patients seeking treatment for gambling problems.
“The outpatient clinic we opened in the 1990s was opened because of the bingo halls,” Tavares said, referring to a period when bingo was briefly legal in Brazil. “It increases the demand for treatment by up to four times. At the end of last year, we still had treatment spots available; this year, we don't.”
He recommended that all bets should be registered with Brazil's federal revenue service so that “if what you bet far exceeds your income, there are only two possibilities: either you're laundering money or you're a compulsive gambler; and you will receive appropriate treatment for each of these conditions”.
Tavares also advocated for closing both online and physical gambling between midnight and 8am, saying the only people who bet at those hours are those who have problems.
Waldir Eustáquio Marques, a former federal lottery officer and current president of Brazilian association AIGaming, congratulated the authors for a well-written bill that had the power to “protect the consumer”.
He also quoted Brazilian Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça: “‘Where there is no State, there is organised crime’. So, there's no point in us wanting to ignore and close our eyes to this activity that is already established in Brazil and in which the government is not present.”
The Senate debate followed the approval of Bill 2234/2022 by a Senate committee in June, with industry experts growing increasingly confident that the legislation is likely to be passed by Congress either late in 2024 or in 2025.
Fabio Ferreira Kujawski of law firm Mattos Filho commented in a webinar on Friday that the bill has picked up momentum from the passage of Law 14.790 to regulate online gambling.
“Since we already have sports betting and online gaming in the regulated environment, Brazil is ready for brick-and-mortar casinos,” he said.
The Senate vote will likely be after municipal elections in October, but “the expectation is that the bill will be approved this year”, Kujawski said. However, any amendments that are approved by senators then would need to be reviewed and either adopted or rejected by the Chamber of Deputies.
