A new step towards gambling legalization in Brazil

The largest country in South America, Brazil, may become open to different forms of gambling, including slot machines. Gambling is prohibited here for the past 70 years. Exceptions were made for lotteries and betting on horseracing. Now the officials of Brasilia decided to revise the decision taken immediately after the Second World War, as the country is in dire need of additional revenue in the budget.

So Brazil took another step towards the legalization of gambling after the House of Representatives approved a revised version of the Bill 186 that regulates gambling in the country.

A full-scale legalization is expected – online and land based casinos, slot machines, lotteries and sports betting will come out of the shadow. Now everything is officially banned in the country even on the Internet, although the web has enough offshore resources that offer stakes and demo games for the Portuguese-speaking Hispanics.

Interestingly, the initiative with the gaming resolution is credited with the President of the Republic Dilma Rousseff. She called for the 30% tax on gambling houses. Government economists have calculated that Brazil will receive CA$ 6 billion annually.

The initial version of the bill has already been approved by CEDN in December; however, the senators subsequently introduced 16 amendments, including a ban on public officials and their relatives to participate in gambling, as well as the obligatory presence of a license to conduct gambling.

In addition, the bill amended the establishment of tax rates for different types of gambling. Operators have to pay 20% tax on gross income. This amount is two times higher than the tax for terrestrial operators.

There is no information about how many online licenses will be released, but it is known that you needn’t make a contract with the Brazilian organization to conduct gambling business, just need an office here. Such companies as AGT, Intralot and Codere are believed to apply for the license.

The casino will be allowed to operate only in the “integrated entertainment complex built specifically for this purpose”, and the casino area should not exceed 10% of the total floor space of the complex.

According to the Bill, the country will open at least 35 casinos. That is, one for each state. At the same time, the largest states can have three.

But the Bill will not be implemented until August 5-12 when Rio 2016 Olympic Games start. And this prevents Brazil from millions in tax revenue, as the tourists will have to wager somewhere else. Related news: The Time to Reform American Gaming Laws Has Come