SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Arthur Lira, President of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, has reportedly met with counterpart legislators to asses if conditions have been met to debate gambling regulation this week.
Reported by BNL Data, Lira has confirmed that the proposal will be part of this week’s delegated agenda
In recent days, both Lira and the head of the Government in the Chamber, Ricardo Barros, have moved forward with a plan to reach the ‘necessary quorum’ to allow a debate on the proposal drafted by Deputy Felipe Carreras, who has pushed the most for a regulation for the entire industry in Brazil.
Lira and Carreras had committed to taking the project to the plenary session at the end of February. According to Lira, everything is set for a vote, except for some final adjustments in the text drafted by Carreras. He also pointed out that the person in charge of drafting the project is including some final details to avoid further modifications and to “improve” it.
Lora seeks to promote a project that finally legalises casinos in the country after countless twists and turns in recent years, which have kept the sector operating in illegality.
The President of the Chamber believes that everything has been done to vote on the proposal. However, he explained that although gambling was not discussed during the last meeting of party leaders, the subject has been brought up enough times in 2021 and there was an agreement to vote in early 2022.
In order to favour the process to regulate gambling, Lira met opposition groups halfway to add two projects of interest to the legislative agenda, hoping his bill of interest will soon be approved.
If the vote is successful and the proposal is approved, there is still a big obstacle to overcome: on repeated occasions, President Jair Bolsonaro assured that he would veto any type of bill that regulates betting in Brazil. In case he does, Congress has the power to reverse the decision, but the move would require massive support from legislators.
