Compliance Updates

Deputies and Experts Await Voting on Gaming Law After Presidential Election in Brazil

Published

2 years ago

July 1, 2022

Deputy Bacelar (Pode-BA) opened the panel by providing a background on the regulatory framework for gaming, noting that the initial project, from 1991, was discussed and shelved on several occasions for years until, in 2016, it was again discussed with emphasis and a lot of professionalism.

“In 2017, after we approved the regulatory framework in the House Committees, a group that advocated the legalization only of casinos in large integrated resorts, caused the process to stop. Along with this, the opposing groups contributed to the suspension of the procedure,” he recalled.

According to him, the approval in February of this year of Bill 442/91 in the Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies was the result of many discussions and intense work by the Working Group created by the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL).

“We were able to approve the regulatory framework for gaming in February, thanks to the support of various sectors of society, the dedication of the rapporteur Felipe Carreras (PSB-PE) and the important help of other parliamentarians who understand the sector as an important economic activity for the country,” he explained.

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For Bacelar, it would be very important for the Senate to vote on the Bill after the elections, “since President Bolsonaro does not have enough support in Congress if he vetoes the bill. If he vetoes it, I am sure that in Congress we will override the veto,” he assured.

Then, Herculano Passos (MDB-SP) once again defended the approval of gaming due to the importance of the activity for the economy: “Brazil needs the resources in the form of taxes and we can no longer wait any longer to approve the activity in the country, which will represent billions of reais in taxes and hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

According to him, “the approval of Bill 442/91 encourages us that the project will also pass the Senate and I hope that it follows the same pattern as the Presidency of the Republic for sanction.”

“President Jair Bolsonaro has said that he can veto the project, but I am sure that Congress will override the veto,” he guaranteed, also remembering that tourism will benefit greatly from the approval of the legal framework for gaming in Brazil.

Daniel Homem de Carvalho, from the National OAB’s Gaming Commission, said that “gaming is not prohibited in Brazil. What is prohibited is private gambling and for this reason the government is always very reticent in approving a law for the activity.”

According to him, “we’ve always had bad lottery products and it’s time for the big world players to arrive in Brazil to offer innovative and modern products. The national OAB intends, together with the state OABs, with the States and with players, to present the best possible regulation to the market.”

Asked about a possible non-presentation of the presidential decree regulating sports betting, he said that “on December 13, if the regulation is not reached, the market will continue to operate without it.” In other words, there will be points to be defined regarding the protection of the citizen and the form of taxation.

Karen Sierra-Hughes, Vice President for Latin America and Caribe for GLI, was asked by the moderator about how the international market sees Brazil’s current moment and what the country can’t go wrong in regulating the gaming sector. The GLI executive said that the gaming industry is seen around the world as an important economic activity. “In practically all countries, a large portion of the resources invested in the social area come from the gaming sector and I see that Brazil can – and should – follow the examples of good international experiences,” she commented.

For her, regulation must be discussed and well understood by the government, the regulator and all market players so that a country can achieve a really important activity to leverage its economy.

“GLI has global experience in dealing with regulatory bodies in many jurisdictions that have worked hard to organize the gaming industry in their countries. We focus on compliance, responsible gaming and anti-money laundering practices and this allows us to have a very broad view of the sector,” she commented.

According to her, GLI has always made itself available to Brazil to offer knowledge and help the country achieve good regulation of all verticals. “The world market sees Brazil as one of the main ones in the world and the country really has exactly this characteristic and needs to take advantage of the moment to offer society an extremely rich activity due to the taxes and jobs it can generate,” concluded Karen.

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GLI Becomes First Laboratory to be Accredited in Maranhão, Brazil

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Niji Narayan

Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) has become the first laboratory to achieve accreditation in Maranhão, Brazil. The accreditation allows GLI to perform tests and certification for the gambling and lottery industry interested in working with lottery and fixed-odds betting operators in the state of Maranhão.

The milestone is the latest in a series of regulatory achievements for GLI in Brazil. Lottery of the State of Maranhão is the third jurisdiction in Brazil to accredit laboratories, and GLI is accredited in all and the first to be authorized in all.

Cassiano Pereira Junior, president of Maranhão Parcerias (Mapa), highlighted the importance of the partnership between the Maranhão State Lottery (Lotema) and GLI. “Every day we strive to make Lotema even better, providing greater security for its users. The partnership with GLI is a concrete way of achieving this goal, as its certification laboratories play an important role for the gaming and lottery industry, guaranteeing the conformity, security, and integrity of the products and systems used by Lotema,” Cassiano explained.

“We are grateful to the Lottery of the State of Maranhão for granting GLI the laboratory accreditation, becoming the first to be authorized in Maranhão. It is extremely gratifying to see how Lotema empower themselves by trusting the technical compliance process to provide transparency, integrity, and accountability to all the industry stakeholders through the certification process. The laboratory accreditation is the first step for a successful implementation of the certification based on jurisdictional standards, and the reason why we at GLI take this step very seriously and with great priority every time a new jurisdiction opens. We feel responsible for being part of the solution towards a fast and efficient implementation of regulations, thus supporting further local industry development and sustainable growth. We are grateful to Lotema and excited to be part of its thriving industry,” said Karen Sierra-Hughes, Vice President of Latin America, Caribbean, and Spain.

GLI has been working with regulators, lotteries, and industry stakeholders across the Latin American and Caribbean region for more than 26 years in their efforts toward regulation, sustainable growth, and eradicating illegal gaming. In Brazil, GLI has been side by side with government entities and all industry stakeholders for nearly 20 years, participating in public hearings in the Senate, Chamber of Deputies, and State government level, and in recent years, adding strategic local representation to strengthen their local support.

Compliance Updates

Betano Receives Licence to Operate in Colombia

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Niji Narayan

Kaizen Gaming Colombia, owner of the Betano.co brand, was authorized by Coljuegos to operate online betting in the country. With this new operator, there are now 16 web platforms that have the approval of the entity to market games of chance online.

“We continue to strengthen the online gaming industry. We hope that, with the entry of this new operator, we can continue to increase transfers for the health of Colombians. At this time, the platform is already operating for the betting public,” said Marco Emilio Hincapié, president of Coljuegos.

The entity is also in the process of authorizing an additional operator called Bingo Casino, which is expected to begin offering bets in the coming weeks.

It is worth mentioning that, by 2024, it is estimated that online betting portals will pay around $419,527 million to Coljuegos for exploitation rights, which represents an increase of 31% compared to the same period in 2023. All of these resources are transferred to the health system.

“We are seeing that online betting is a sector of the economy that has driven the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. That is why we are working to make the market even more attractive and to provide more options to bettors,” said the president.

According to financial projections, this new operator is expected to pay Coljuegos around $21.513 billion over the next five years for operating rights and administration costs, resources that can be transferred to subsidize health and scientific research.

Compliance Updates

Chris Christie bets on Texas to approve OSB in 2025

Published

4 days ago

November 18, 2024

Adrienn Sarkany

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has backed Texas to legalise online sports betting in the state’s next legislative session.

Christie helped pave the way for sports betting liberalisation across the US by bringing the Supreme Court case that led to the repeal of PASPA.

The case was fought and won by prominent conservative lawyer Ted Olson, who Christie hired to argue the case for states to make their own decisions on sports betting. Olson died last week at the age of 84.

After Missouri became the 39th US state to legalise sports betting in some capacity, attention has quickly turned again to the big three states of Texas, California, and Florida.

“I think it’ll happen in Texas in the next legislative session,” said Christie, speaking to Covers.com. The next session is due to commence in Texas on January 14, 2025.

Christie is less confident about California, however, where competing sports betting ballots failed in 2022 amid a bitter dispute and lobbying war between online operators and local tribes.

California is seen as essential to the future prospects of US sports betting operators, given its size and wealth and dramatic impact on the country’s total addressable market (TAM).

“I don’t know about California,” said Christie. “This really takes gubernatorial leadership, and Gavin Newsom has got to decide if this is one of the issues he wants to lead on.

“Without gubernatorial leadership, the legislature won’t do it because they’re pulled like taffy in too many directions by too many different interests. Without the governor pushing for it, I just don’t think it’ll happen.”

Despite another potential setback in California, Christie has backed sports betting to penetrate pretty much every state eventually.

“I really believe sports betting is inevitable to go just about nationwide, because people in America love their sports, they just do,” he said. “I think it is in the leagues’ best interests to grow their audience. The government gets some piece of the pie out of that which they enjoy, and the public seems to be pretty happy for the most part.”

Depending on expansion, US sports betting could, in theory, reach every state. It would then become a national issue, but Christie has warned the federal government not to interfere.

“Let the states handle it,” he said. “The states are doing fine. You haven’t heard of anything awful or irreversible happening since each state has been involved and they should have the ability to decide whether they want gambling or not.

“I don’t think the federal government should have anything to do with it and I don’t think they ever should have. I don’t think they have to be babysitters for the governors of the country.”