Brazil’s Senate held a much-anticipated vote Wednesday night on a measure to legalize casinos and gambling in the country. But instead of approving the bill, as was widely expected, the body opted to send the legislation to a separate Senate committee for a constitutional review.
Observers noted that the constitutional review itself will not take place until at least March, pushing the date for another consideration by the full Senate well into 2017.
The diversion came as a surprise to observers who had gauged there to be sufficient support for approving the Senate’s gambling legalization package, which would allow for resort casinos, jogo do bicho animal games, bingo halls and various forms of electronic wagering.
But sufficient dissent emerged on the Senate floor as the bill was being debated, especially from the evangelical and Catholic bloc of the body.
The leading opponent, Senator Magno Malta – a pastor from the state of Bahia, introduced the motion to refer the bill to the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Commission for a constitutional review and was able to garner sufficient support to advance his effort.
The CJC will not analyze the merits of the bill in its analysis, but rather the constitutional aspects.
“The CCJ is the commission responsible for a constitutional analysis and debate of bills proposed to the Brazilian Congress. It does not make an analysis about the matter of the bill itself, but only about the relationship between the bill and the Constitution,” said Edgar Lenzi, a proponent of the bill and president of BetConsult – a consultancy based in Curitiba.
Magno Jose de Souza, president of the Institute for Legal Gaming and a leading proponent of the gambling bill, noted that while the optics of maneuver aren’t favorable, they are a fairly typical component of the legislative process.
“The referral of the project to the CJC does not represent the end of the world. It’s just one more stage of the process,” he said.
He emphasized that there is a positive aspect of the result in that the Chamber of Deputies – which has a concurrent gambling bill that some deem to be better than the Senate version – can now have the first stab at finalizing the language that legalizes gambling in the country.
While some actors in the gambling sector were “shocked” and “discouraged” by the 44 to 19 vote, Magno emphasized that there are still plenty of reasons for optimism.
“We will work to pass (the Chamber of Deputies bill) and create muscle to confront the full Senate again soon. The end of the world would be if the proposal were to be rejected by the Senate plenary,” he said.
The Chamber of Deputies also on Wednesday held a public meeting on its version of the gambling bill in which various proponents and opponents voiced their arguments.
The bill’s sponsors are pushing for a vote of urgency to advance the measure up the Chamber’s priority ladder. While such a vote has not yet occurred, there is still a window of opportunity for it to happen this year, said Lenzi.
