After granting a request for review this Wednesday, the 18th, the Senate Sports Committee (CEsp) announced the postponement of the vote on the bill that provides for the regulation of fixed-odd sports betting, known as bets.
The text (PL 3,626/2023) presents rules for authorizing the operation of betting systems, the advertising of these games and the destination of taxes on revenue, among other measures.
Senator Romário (PL-RJ), president of the committee, read his report in favor of the proposition, but, during the discussion of the matter, several members of the panel warned about insufficient time to examine the document.
Rapporteur includes amendment that extends authorization period and restricts advertising to adults
According to Agência Senado, the betting regulation proposal received 61 amendments from senators. In his report, Romário included two amendments.
One of them extends the possibility of granting authorization to operate betting for up to five years — the text received from the Chamber of Deputies limited the period to three years. This was one of the points most criticized by the market.
The other amendment makes the objective of targeting advertising actions only to an adult audience clearer.
In addition, Romário offered three amendments, including the one that modifies the distribution of the percentages collected covering the National Federation of Associations of Parents and Friends of the Exceptional (Fenapaes), the National Federation of Pestalozzi Associations (Fenapestalozzi) and the Brazilian Red Cross.
Licenses
Still in relation to grants for the operation of companies in Brazil, Senator Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO), vice-president of the collegiate, reported his dialogue with the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, when they dealt with license costs for houses of bets.
For him, the license must be proportional to the size of the company. “Portugal set a high value and the betting houses that were unable to pay for this license went underground, left Portugal, took away the bettors, and the government lost 35 billion euros in taxes.”
In a similar sense, senator Carlos Portinho added that the license value ceiling should not be established by law, but in regulation in accordance with the government’s public policy.
While presiding over the meeting, Kajuru granted a 24-hour collective view. Subsequently, three requests were approved to hold public hearings to discuss the matter.
Processing
The project, from the Executive Branch, has already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies and is being processed simultaneously by the Economic Affairs Committee (CAE).
After passing through the two committees, the text will go to the Senate Plenary. The tendency is for the project to be voted on in early November.