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Brazil’s Prez signs bill to legalize sports betting

Brazil is taking giant leaps to liberalize and regulate the sports betting market in their country. The Brazilian Senate just recently approved a bill called the Provisional Measure 846/2018. The bill, along with stating the legalization of sports betting, also includes plans for distribution of revenue raised through their Loterias Caixa (Lotex).

The bill had only to require a nominal signature by the interim President Michel Temer for it to become a law. On 12^th December, the signing ceremony saw Temer sign the bill, in the presence of officials and dignitaries from the Ministry of Sports, Culture, Human Rights and Public Security.

The local press reported that the ceremony went in an ‘astonishingly swift fashion’. Temer was quoted as saying, “A brilliant afternoon for public safety, culture, sports and above all, the Brazilian people.”

The bill didn’t take much time to become law, having been approved by a Chamber of Deputies committee in November’s first week, then passed by both the full Chamber and the Senate in back-to-back sessions within two weeks.

Brazil has seen turmoil in terms of gambling efforts. Previous attempts by concerned entities to legalize sports betting was received negatively, due to stakeholder predicaments, religious opposition and distractions from country’s never-ending corruption scandals.

Alexandre Manoel, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance’s department of Fiscal Monitoring, Energy and Lottery, spoke at the Online Gaming Summit Brazil recently, saying that the PM 846’s passage “should be understood as a necessary initiative to complete the range of business in the lottery sector in Brazil, and not as a step to legalize gaming activities that are currently prohibited in the country.”

Temer also took to Twitter to underline his commitment to the new bill, saying, “My Government today is sanctioned the act that restructures the National Public Security Fund. This issue as we all know is fundamental and priority for Brazilians and our government.”

With Israel also potentially recognizing poker as a skill game, and other liberalizing moves by some governments in recent times, the sports betting industry is on a phenomenal growth trajectory and will also earn the government its tax revenue.

Keep reading GutshotMagazine.com for similar legal news and general poker news from around the world.

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