Brazil fast-tracks gambling bill

Brazil’s Senate has fast-tracked approval of a new law which could legalise remote gambling in the country.

Bill 186/2014, which covers a broad range of gambling measures and includes provision for the regulation of online gambling for the first time, was only given initial approval by a special Senate committee last week.

Although it was expected that the bill would take several months to progress through Brazil’s legislature, it has been bundled into the ‘Brazil Agenda’ a package of measures aiming to revert the country’s economic crisis.

Yesterday the Senate’s Regional Development and Tourism Commission ratified the text and granted the bill “conclusive deliberation” status, meaning it will be forwarded to the lower house unless an appeal is signed by at least nine senators.

If such an appeal is filed, the bill will then be fully debated by the Senate before being forwarded to the House of Representatives, which approved a similar bill in July.

That bill was vetoed by President Dilma Rousseff in August, following an intervention from the Ministry of Finance, which argued that it didn’t have time to regulate the new offering.

However, Brazil’s National Congress began working on a new bill almost immediately after the veto and sources close to the president say she has since warmed to the idea of regulation.