[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1 link=same] [bsa_pro_ad_space id=2]

Skip to Content

Operator News

Brazil – Deputy says Brazil’s gaming law could be alternative to raising taxes

By - 14 August 2017

Deputy César Halum, a long time supporter of pro gaming legislation has defended the new gaming act now under consideration in the House of Deputies.

According to Deputy César Halum the new act would provide a fast and viable alternative to help the government cover the gap in public accounts, whose deficit for this year is expected to rise from R$139bn to R$159 bn.

“The government has recently raised fuel taxes to raise R$6bn,” he said, “and since 1946 we have tolerated clandestine gambling and forbidden legal gambling. Gambling exists. If gambling were legalised and taxed, it would raise R$18bn a year, three times more than this fuel tax,” Halum said. “Therefore, it would not be necessary to create new taxes if new economic activities were created.
“Instead of creating new taxes, one can create new economic activities,” said the deputy, adding that in South America, only Brazil and Bolivia did not currently allow gambling. Gaming is widespread in Brazil especially the popular ‘Jogo do Bicho’ or ‘Animal Game’ an illegal street lottery. “To get an idea, Brazil raises via cigarettes $R4.9bn per year. Brazil raises via alcoholic beverages R$R2.3 bn per year. We raise $R2.2bn a year through automobile factories and car manufacturers, and via fuels, we get $R5bn a year.”

Combined this adds to R$16bn whereas a fully regulated gaming industry including a regulated animal game would generate R$18bn for the state and combined the industry would create a million jobs. The new law would also reduce corruption and bring thousands of workers into the formal economy, said the lawmaker with casinos generating 38 thousand jobs, bingo halls 120 thousand jobs, and the animal game as many as 400 thousand jobs.

“We have to legalise it, because it is better than letting it happen hidden the way it is, without any taxation.” As a result he announced that he and a number of other lawmakers were establishing the Parliamentary Front for the Legalisation of Gaming in Brazil which would push for new gaming rules.
There are currently two bills being considered in the Brazilian Congress: one in the Chamber of Deputies and the other in the Senate. In the Chamber of Deputies gaming law would allow for casinos within wider leisure complexes. In August 2016, a special commission approved the latest draft put forward by Deputy Guilherme Mussi. States with more than 25 million inhabitants would be permitted to have a maximum of three casinos. States with populations between 15 million and 25 million may have two, and those with less than 15 million inhabitants may have one casino. Licences would be granted for 30 years.

The 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 “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.

Share via
Copy link