Brazil passes gaming regulation bill

Shirley Pulis Xerxen September 14, 2023

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Brazil passes gaming regulation bill

In another important milestone in the regulation of the Brazilian gaming industry, the Chamber of Deputies has approved a bill to regulate sports betting and online casino games. The approval follows an amendment to the legislation that limits the duration of licences costing over $6 million to a term of three years.

On September 13, just one day after the Chamber initially released its version of the legislation to have in place national regulation for fixed-odds betting, the lower house of Brazil’s Congress enacted an amended version of PL 3626/2023.

Instead of the five-year duration that was first planned, the bill’s rapporteur earlier in the day altered it to limit the term of license authorizations to three years and operators will incur annual licensing costs of more than US$2 million.

The issue of gross revenue from fixed-odds betting remains subject to a tax rate of 18 percent that rises to around 30 percent once other taxes are included. Industry stakeholders lobbying for a lower 8 percent tax rate and to have internet betting exempt from a 30% income tax on player gains over a specific threshold, remain unsuccessful. The good news for online betting operators is that the Chamber of Deputies’ last-minute plan to expand regulation of sports betting into all forms of online gambling remains largely unchanged. The previous version of the legislation for the regulating fixed-odds betting would have restricted the market exclusively to sportsbook operations. In its latest version, the bill also includes casino-style games.

What is next?

Congressman Adolfo Viana, the bill’s rapporteur, in reply to criticism by fellow congressmen taking a more conservative stance towards gambling expansion, said the issue is not whether to liberalise online gaming or not, but rather about regulating a market that is spread across all Brazil.

Now the bill passes to the Senate, where industry stakeholders will lobby for more favourable changes relating to taxes and other provisions. The Senate has just 45 days to vote on the bill.

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