President of the Senate should schedule the Legal Framework for Gambling for voting only after the elections
Photo: Jonas Pereira/ Agência Senado

The bill establishing the Legal Framework for Gambling in Brazil is awaiting consideration in the Federal Senate, after being approved in the Chamber of Deputies. The president of the House, Arthur Lira recently claimed that the agenda “has been sleeping in the Senate for several months”.

The statement by the federal deputy took place in a session on July 14. The statement occurred at a time when the Chamber of Deputies was analyzing possibilities to pay the base salary for the category of nurses.

Despite this, the analysis of the Legal Framework for Gambling should be resumed only after the general elections. In the Esplanada Column published on the website ‘Hoje em Dia’, journalist Leandro Mazzini informed that the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre, should follow this trend.

According to Mazzini, Alcolumbre should release the proposal on the Senate agenda after the national election. The gambling lobby’s plan is to pass the bill in the Senate by December, before the parliamentary recess period.

President Jair Bolsonaro has already publicly declared that he intends to veto the Legal Framework for Gambling, in order not to clash with his support base in the evangelical bench. However, Congress could override the veto and continue the project.

Legal Framework Proposal for Gambling

Senator Rodrigo Pacheco stated that he has no intention of discarding this bill, however, a rapporteur has not yet been chosen for the agenda.

While deputy Carmen Zanotto (Citizenship-SC) mentioned that the Senate even mentioned the proposal that releases bingos, casinos, slot machines and other types of games in Brazil on three occasions, but has not discussed the project so far.

Supporters of the proposal argue that Brazil fails to raise about 50 billion reais a year with the ban on the gambling industry. The project establishes a tax of 17% of the gross revenue to be collected from entrepreneurs who explore the activities. Prize winners would pay 20% in income tax.