Insight
COVID-19 UPDATE - LATAM Brazil
Pedro Trengrouse, Vice President, Special Commission on Sports, Lottery & Entertainment Law, Brazilian Bar Association
Contributor Pedro Trengrouse is the Vice- President of the Brazilian Bar Association Special Committee on Gaming Law, Lotteries and Entertainment and was Harvard Visiting Scholar at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society (Fall 2014); holds the FIFA Master as well as University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Certificates in Fundamentals of Gaming Regulation for Land Based Casinos and Advanced Sports Betting Regulation.
www.tgadvogados.com
pedro@tgadvogados.com
It is well known that Brazil has for a long time stood on the brink of a sea-change in regulated gaming but nothing significant has really happened. The question is now, considering the ongoing procrastination of Government over the past two years, will the relevant stakeholders be prepared to spend time and energy to work and agree on gaming regulation amidst the pandemic?
Brazil has been one of the most heavily affected countries by the novel coronavirus. So far there are more than three million cases of Covid-19 and over 110,000 deaths, the second highest mortality rate worldwide and the highest contagion rate according to the Imperial College of London.
Te economy is severely affected by a significant reduction in tax collection combined with increasing expenses in measures to combat the pandemic. Up to now, the Government is facing 41 per cent real reduction in net revenues and a 68 per cent real growth in total expenditure. Te primary deficit projection for 2020 is close to 10 per cent of the GDP.
An optimist could state that this situation might accelerate discussions regarding gaming regulation in Brazil. Tere are solid grounds for such an assumption as the Minister of the Economy, Paulo Guedes, advocated the need for the introduction of gaming on a regulated basis during the ministerial meeting on April 22nd 2020. Also, the Ministry of Tourism has officially included regulating casinos in Brazil on its list of priorities, with plans to make it happen by 2023. Reinforcing all that, on May 14th 2020, President Bolsonaro issued a decree regarding policies for attracting private investment to develop and promote the tourism sector, within the scope of the Investment Partnership Program.
As part of this initiative, an Inter-Ministerial Committee was established to prepare studies that might help to provide evidence about best
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international practices and the way forward to properly regulate the Brazilian gaming market.
It is well known that Brazil has for a long time stood on the brink of a sea-change in regulated gaming but nothing significant has really happened. Te question is now, considering the ongoing procrastination of Government over the past two years, will the relevant stakeholders be prepared to spend time and energy to work and agree on gaming regulation amidst the pandemic?
Even if they did, are there enough resources available to support the introduction of regulated gaming in Brazil in the current circumstances? Also, will the international market have faith in Brazil, considering the unpredictable behaviour of President Bolsonaro, whose dependency on religious public support is the only explanation for having changed his positions regarding gaming regulation from being in favour in 2019 to being against it 2020?
Te fact of the matter is that in 1946, a Presidential Decree has prohibited games of chance in the country and such prohibition still stands, which sadly resulted in an environment where Brazilians have for much
Brazil: anything can happen - including completely nothing
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