The Brazilian market has emerged as one of monumental interest since its formation, however, there was frustration over its development as the bid to regulate land based casinos was shelved.
Plans had been impending for the land based casino market, however, they were abruptly postponed off the back of an intervention from Senate President Davi Alcolumbre, as reported by SBC Noticias Brazil.
Much to the frustration of land based operators eyeing the Brazilian market, the group cited ‘low attendance’ for a federal measure.
“Yesterday and today, given today’s quorum — 56 out of 81 senators — we have eight or nine senators who are outside Brazil on special mandates, and I spoke with all of them.” Alcolumbre declared.
“They requested that the presidency postpone the deliberation as they would like to be present on the day this matter is voted on. We have senators abroad who have clearly stated they support this bill, and we also have senators abroad who are against it.”
The bill was previously cleared by the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) by 14 votes to 12 at the close of 2024.
The future for the bill now remains uncertain with it unlikely to be placed back on the table in the near future.
The bill planned to legitimise and regulate land-based casinos, bingo halls and jogo do bicho (instant-win games).
Work to be done in Brazil
Despite progress in the country, in a recent interview with SBC Noticias, Régis Dudena, Secretary of Prizes and Bets for Brazil’s Ministry of Finance, emphasised that there is still much work to be done.
Dudena challenged the narrative of growth of Brazil’s illegal betting market, highlighting that the regulated sector’s presence has already changed the national scenario, channeling bettors to authorised companies, with significant gains in transparency, security and responsibility.
“If we compare how it was until December of last year, where there were not many criteria for this [regulation], with now, we objectively have something to say: that today we have a much larger number of people who are entertaining themselves in an environment regulated [by] authorized and legal agents,” he said.
Despite this, Dudena acknowledged that the illegal market is still present, but he downplayed the data on its supposed growth rather than its mitigation. Instead of an isolated “snapshot,” he proposed an analysis of trends, considering the structure of the sector and the coordinated action against illegal operators.
“We know that there is still a problem with the presence of illegality. What we have identified is a tendency to channel all bettors to authorised bettors.”
