Brazilian congressman proposes amendments to legalize sports betting and protect clubs.
Brazilian congressman Marcos Braz (PSDB-RJ), former vice-president of football at Flamengo, presented amendments this Wednesday (September 30th) to the provisional measure that prohibits betting companies in the country. The suggestions seek to remove sports betting from the scope of the prohibition and guarantee a two-year transition period for football clubs to maintain advertising contracts with betting companies.
According to Globo Online, the provisional measure was issued by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) with immediate effect. The text has an initial duration of four months and needs to be voted on by Congress within 120 days to become permanent. The deadline for submitting amendments ended this Thursday (October 1st).
On social media, Braz criticized the federal measure. "I cannot ignore any decision that directly affects the clubs, their contracts, their revenues, and millions of fans," he stated. He also said he was in favor of some level of restriction. "Reducing the number of games is necessary. But this needs to be done with legal certainty and responsibility," the congressman said.
Sports betting outside the ban
The current provisional measure prohibits all forms of betting, including online casinos , the "tiger game" (a Brazilian lottery game), and fixed-odds sports betting on real events. Braz's amendment proposes a new wording for the text and maintains the ban on online casinos and bets on "actions, isolated events, or individual bets occurring during real sporting events." However, it allows bets linked to scores and final results of matches.
The amendment text stipulates that " fixed-odds betting restricted to consolidated results, final scores, and collective metrics of real sporting matches remains fully authorized, provided that it is operated by agents duly authorized by the Executive Branch."
The position of keeping online casinos banned but preserving sports betting was also defended by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), a presidential candidate and Lula's main rival in the election. Lula, who is running for re-election, has used the ban as a campaign argument.
Advertising and blocking schedule
Another amendment by Braz deals with betting advertising in clubs. The proposal provides for the "maintenance of the passive display of brands on materials printed on uniforms and arenas resulting from current sponsorship contracts" for 24 months.
Flamengo, the club to which Braz was affiliated, filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Federal Court to block the provisional measure. A meeting between clubs and the federal government's economic team was scheduled for this week, but was postponed.
Since the publication of the Provisional Measure, new deposits into betting accounts are prohibited. The websites remain accessible for withdrawals until 11:59 PM on Sunday (October 5th). From Monday (October 6th), the websites will be blocked. If the withdrawal is not made voluntarily by that date, the financial institutions that operate for the betting sites will return the funds between Monday (October 9th) and Saturday (October 14th). The contracting of new betting advertisements is also prohibited.
Voting in Congress
The proposed amendments need to be analyzed by a rapporteur, who can include or reject them in the report. The leadership of Congress has not yet defined the voting schedule nor the parliamentarians who will occupy the positions of rapporteur and chairman of the joint committee responsible for analyzing the provisional measure.
With Congress largely empty due to the election campaign, the presidents of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), and the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), have not yet met with party leaders to define the next steps. Leaders of parliamentary groups are talking about coordinating efforts to reduce the scope of the ban, but it is expected that an agreement will only be reached after the first round of elections. The first formal step for analyzing the provisional measure is the creation of a joint committee, a step that has not yet been taken.
