The legalization of online sports betting in Brazil has been unexpectedly delayed after the upper house of the nation’s Congress postponed its final vote on crucial enabling legislation.

The 81-seat Federal Senate was yesterday set to vote on Bill 3,626/23 but this ballot was suspended at the eleventh hour owing to protests from those opposed to the legislation’s inclusion of language to additionally legalize online casino games.

Detractor Denunciation

Senators opposed to the legislation argued it contained no mention of online casino gambling at the time of its introduction to the lower Chamber of Deputies in July with its language having been amended more than 100 times since ratification by this 513-member body only two months ago. Such critics are moreover concerned the bill does not specifically lay out what types of games are to be allowed or define just how the new vertical is to be regulated.

Prominent Proposition

The passage of Bill 3,626/23 is seen as a priority for the government of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as it is looking to raise approximately $2.3 billion in tax revenues from legalized online sports betting to help fund a crucial economic recovery program. Although negotiations in Brasilia are said to have gone down to the wire, Senators opposed to the inclusion of online casino gambling language ultimately convinced Federal Senate Vice-President Veneziano Vital do Rego to postpone the final vote.

Proponents of the legislation will now have to wait until Federal Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco returns from representing Brazil at the ongoing COP28 event in Dubai. The Minas Gerais representative is in charge of scheduling votes although the delay could see Bill 3,626/23 amended even further or even put back before the Chamber of Deputies.

Serious Saga

Adolfo Viana was responsible for Bill 3,626/23 during its 120 days in the Chamber of Deputies and the Social Democratic Party representative in known to have supported the inclusion of online casino games language as a way of maximizing tax revenues. This came despite the lodging of several amendments including one from footballer-turn-politician Romario de Souza Faria who argued the legislation should be limited just to fixed-odds sports betting.

In signing off the pre-vote review of Bill 3,626/23 on behalf of the Economic Affairs Commission (CAE), Senator Angelo Coronel agreed with Viana and additionally recommended dropping the tax rate for online sports betting operator income from 18% to 12%. This Bahia politician then went even further by suggesting the duty on player prizes be halved to 15% so as to help attract consumers and businesses to the new market.