Senator Jorge Kajuru defends regulation and taxation of sports betting
Photo: Reprodução / TV Senado

Recent accusations of match-fixing in Brazilian football have had repercussions in the Federal Senate. This Thursday, the 11th, Senator Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO) defended the investigation of cases and the analysis of projects that regulate sports betting.

The senator himself has a project of his own with Hamilton Mourão (Republicanos-RS), which addresses the regularization and taxation of the activity in the national territory. For Kajuru, the project should limit itself to dealing with the collection of taxes by companies.

Senator Jorge Kajuru wants the project to focus only on tax collection

“We are going to discuss, regularize, rate and investigate, now creating a sports commission that we didn’t have until now. It must be chaired by Senator Romário, so that this commission can investigate what is being discussed today in Brazil, which is a scandal, a crime: the manipulation of results. It’s the return of the sports lottery mafia, it’s the return of scandals.

“What we propose is the regularization of these bookmakers, that they pay taxes and stop evading. But at no time are we wanting to discuss advertising, some parliamentarians are wanting, like in England, the end of advertising. I think this is disrespectful to the media,” he added.

According to news from the website O Tempo, the Senate should start debating, next week, a proposal to regulate bookmakers, contemplating the taxation of the activity. By next Tuesday, the 16th, the proposal by senators Jorge Kajuru and Hamilton Mourão must have its rapporteur chosen.

Sports Commission

The Senate’s expectation is that a Sports Commission will also be defined soon, to be chaired by Senator Romário (PL-RJ) as mentioned by Senator Jorge Kajuru. Thus, a dismemberment must occur, since matters related to the theme are debated by the Education, Culture and Sport Commission.

Initially, the intention is for the collegiate to investigate allegations of involvement of football players in the manipulation of results of matches up to Series A of the Brazilian Championship. According to Kajuru, the commission will act “almost like a CPI [Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry]”, calling on athletes and punters.