The Brazilian Senate is scheduled to vote today on a sweeping bill that would legalize an array of gambling in the South American nation, but the recent ousting of Senate President Renan Calheiros by the country’s Supreme Court could force the measure to the back burner.
Last month, Calheiros announced that a floor vote would be held December 7th on a highly-watched piece of comprehensive legislation that would legalize a variety of gambling including casinos, bingo, jogo do bicho games and betting on horse racing and sporting events.
The proposed legalization, which has been touted as generating between $5.9 billion and $8.8 billion annually for the country’s social security programs, is being touted as a component of Calheiros’ Agenda Brasil – a slate of measures designed to cut public spending and stimulate economic growth in the recession-plagued country.
In early November, a special economic development committee in the Senate voted unanimously to approve the bill and put it up for a floor vote. Similar legislation is advancing through Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies. It earned approval of a key committee in August but has not been scheduled for a floor vote by the full body.
But Brazil’s ongoing political turmoil means the status of today’s scheduled vote is in jeopardy. Earlier this week, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordered Calheiros, an ally of President Michel Temer, to step down from his position as Senate president so that he could stand trial for corruption and embezzlement charges.
The reasoning was that he could not simultaneously face the charges and serve in the presidential line of succession. Calheiros is the target of at least a half dozen investigations linked to a massive corruption probe known as Lava Jato – or Car Wash, although he denies all wrongdoing.
Two of the gambling bill’s other leading proponents in the Senate, Ciro Nogueira and Fernando Bezerra, are also targets of Lava Jato.
Complicating matters, Calheiros on Tuesday refused to abide by the order, and the Senate canceled its legislative agenda for the day to appeal the Supreme Court’s decision. The development is the latest round in what many observers are calling a constitutional crisis as the country’s executive, legislative and judicial branches grasp for power in a chaotic political environment.
If Calheiros is ultimately removed from power, he would be replaced by Jorge Vianna atop the Senate. Vianna is a member of the PT – or Workers’ Party, which has vowed do everything it can to thwart President Temer’s and Calheiros’ agenda.
The PT controlled the nation’s presidency for almost 15 years before the spectacular impeachment of Dilma Rousseff earlier this year. Temer, who assumed the interim president role, and Calheiros are both members of the PMDB party and have been widely viewed as two of the key players in orchestrating her downfall.
The Senate gambling bill would permit the issuance of licenses for an undefined number of casino resorts in the country, although it contains certain stipulations as to where these facilities must be located. It would also allow cities to construct bingo halls – complete with electronic video bingo games – for every 200,000 residents.
Gambling has been prohibited in Brazil for the past 70 years. It remains one of the last major unpenetrated markets worldwide for the gaming industry.
