SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Arthur Lira, the President of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, has intervened in the process of regulating a federal sports betting regime. Representing the Lower House of Brazil, Lira has demanded that the government’s “provisional measure” to regulate sports betting be converted into a federal bill.
Last week, Brazilian ministries received a “provisional measure” drafted by the Ministry of Finance, which outlined the government’s planned regulations for a fixed-odds sports betting market.
The provisional measure, pending President Lula da Silva‘s approval, proposed settlements on taxation and market safeguards, as well as the authorisation for the creation of a “special secretariat” responsible for monitoring Brazilian sports betting.
In his intervention, Lira stated that the government must address the Chamber of Deputies’ previous request, which called for any form of sports betting legislation to be treated as a constitutional matter.
Consequently, the government must prepare a sports betting bill that will be examined by the Chamber of Deputies and the National Senate before it can be presented to Brazil’s Congress for federal approval
In contrast, President Lula and Finance Minister Fernando Haddad believe federal sports betting laws can be approved by a “single joint commission consisting of deputies and senators.” Lula’s administration maintains that it has the right to expedite sports betting laws since it has adopted an approved mandate that was not authorized by Brazil’s previous government.
Should the Chamber of Deputies intervene, Brazil’s sports betting regime could face significant delays or undergo substantial reforms, affecting its progress through Congress. A review conducted by the “evangelical bench” of the Chamber of Deputies would be of concern to stakeholders if a bill were deemed necessary for advancement.
SBC Noticias reported: “The conversion from a provisional measure to a bill implies a 45-day extension in the Chamber of Deputies’ voting process before it moves to the Senate. It would require support from an absolute majority of the Deputies, which is equivalent to at least 257 votes in favour.”
In further developments related to sports betting, Parliament will establish a “Special Inquiry Committee” to investigate match-fixing, fraud, and corruption in Brazilian professional sports. The Committee, overseen by Deputy Felipe Carreras, will examine the “loopholes generated by the lack of regulation” of sports betting, which “allow criminals, acting in bad faith, to tarnish professional sports”.
Carreras stated that he would present the Committee’s first report on sports integrity matters to Parliament and the Public Prosecutors Office.
