Insight BRAZIL Market Update
is now coming from a number of other sources including the Ministry of Tourism and possibly behind the scenes from the executive branch.
While he has not spoken out publically on the issue it is believed that President Temer is ideologically opposed to gaming. However according to some reports ministers in his cabinet have gradually brought the President around to the idea of liberalising the market albeit to a limited degree. According to local daily Globo, his economic team has prepared a provisional measure which would allow for sports betting in case Congress delays approving pro gaming measures. Furthermore, according to some reports money generated by a privatised sports industry has all ready been worked out into this year’s budget.
Indeed beside the two gaming acts up for debate in Congress there have been a number of developments regarding sports betting. In April it was announced that the government is planning on privatising instants, sports betting lotteries and online sports betting in order to double the revenue it collects in gaming tax revenue. Tis would raise tax revenue from R$6bn to R$12bn over the next few years. According to local sources Congress would soon begin debating a bill which would allow for sports betting lotteries, as well as online betting which would be known collectively as "Sportingbet."
Te news follows the announcement in September last year that Lotex - the instant lottery ticket arm of Brazil’s largest state owned bank and lottery operator CAIXA - would be auctioned off as part of a 25 point plan designed to kick-start the economy.
million may have two, and those with less than 15 million inhabitants may have one casino. Licences would be granted for 30 years. Te bill would allow for bingo and electronic bingo which would come under the supervision of the municipal governments with the number of bingo machines on site depending on the size of the population. Meanwhile the popular “Jogo do Bicho” or “Animal Game would be legalised and be put under the control of the state.
Crucially, the draft of the new law contains a number of measures designed to combat one of the most contentious issues of the bill as it was discussed in the committee stage namely money laundering and corruption.
In the Senate the bill is an updated and modified version of legislation originally drafted by Senator Ciro Nogueira in 2014 but with a number of significant changes. Te text of the bill would allow for 35 casinos, with at least one per state while some states would be permitted to have as many as three, depending on the population and the economic outlook in each state. Te resorts would only be permitted to use
10 per cent of the available space for gaming while the remaining space would be used for restaurants, shops, theatres, exhibition space, as well as others facilities. Bingos would be be permitted per 150,000 inhabitants while municipalities with less than 150 thousand people would only be allowed to have one bingo hall. Meanwhile, the animal game would also be permitted and would be regulated by the executive branch of the government of each Brazilian municipality.
So where does the government now stand on the issue of gaming and is there a danger that gaming law could simply languish in committee stage and eventually be left off the agenda altogether?
Firstly it would appear that while there have not been many major developments since December in the Congress gaming legislation is still very much a possibility and momentum is gathering for some form of liberalisation. However, it may come in a form that it is very different to how it was originally envisaged in both houses. Tis is because additional impetus
According to reports now surfacing in local media the licensing process for Lotex could begin in August and the auction could go ahead in November. However the tender could go ahead a month before so that the new privatised version of Lotex could well be in operation by the first half of 2018. Meanwhile CAIXA will continue to run and operate traditional lotteries such as its most popular lottery the Mega-Sena which is drawn twice weekly and CAIXA will be a minority partner in both Lotex and Sportingbet.
Meanwhile moves are afoot for a very different gaming bill which is being pushed forward by Tourism Minister Marx Beltrão. In April the government announced ‘Brazil + Tourism’ program, a number of measures designed to strengthen the tourism sector. According to the Minister, the country expects the number of foreign tourists visiting Brazil to increase sharply from the 6.5 million registered in 2016 to 12 million in 2022, and revenues from tourism are expected to increase from US$6bn a year to US$19bn. Among the measures are issuance of electronic visas, the opening up the civil aviation sector to foreign companies, and casinos in integrated resorts.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM P43
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