The president of Brazil’s Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), once again guaranteed speed to the economic agenda defended by the finance minister, Fernando Haddad. He said that the bill regulating sports betting should be voted on next Tuesday (21), both in the Economic Affairs Committee (CAE) and in the Plenary.
"We are going to vote on the sports betting project now on Tuesday, at CAE, in the morning, and it should go to the Plenary in the afternoon," said Pacheco, this Thursday (16).
In the same sense, the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, said that the government is focusing, in these last two months of the year, on approving in Congress measures that help increase the country's revenue, such as the sports betting bill.
“Our focus at this moment is on completing the approval in the Senate of the regulation of electronic betting,” he stated.
He said that “the forecast is that it will be voted on Tuesday in the CAE (Economic Affairs Commission) and that it will go to the Plenary next week.”
According to Padilha, the Bill voting schedule was agreed with the president of the Senate and House bench leaders
Also this Thursday, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, said that he defends a “concentrated effort to approve tax measures in Congress” and that the sports betting Bill is one of them.
To guarantee the vote on Bill 3626/2023, Haddad has deployed his ‘shock troops’ to seek agreements with parliamentarians so that the matter can be voted on next week.
Haddad is concerned about the increase in revenue in 2024 and hopes that the issue can be finalized as soon as possible so that all ordinances and final rules for the exploration of sports betting in Brazil are reviewed in accordance with the changes proposed in Parliament so that the area led by José Francisco Manssur in the Ministry places the documents on the street.
The agreement to vote on the matter next week began with the withdrawal of the Bill's emergency regime, which freed the Senate to vote on other matters held since November 11th.
The president of the Senate himself stated in the last session of the House: “I congratulate the Executive Branch for having the sensitivity to remove the urgency. Obviously, with the commitment of this presidency to submit the bill regarding sports betting for consideration on Tuesday.”
The project regulates sports betting both on websites and in commercial establishments and defines taxation at a rate of 18% on GGR, in addition to other taxes levied on any economic activity.
The text has already passed through the Chamber of Deputies and also the Senate Sports Committee, where the value of the fixed grant of R$30 million (US$ 6.15m) was defined for up to three brands per company applying for the license.
According to the text approved by the Senate Sports Committee, the Ministry of Tourism will now receive 3.5% of the revenue, instead of 4% proposed by the Chamber. And Embratur will receive 0.8% and no longer 1%.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Health, which had no participation, started receiving 0.5% for “measures to prevent, control and mitigate social damage arising from the practice of games in health areas.”
Source: GMB
