Brazil’s Senate has moved to create a “Parliamentary Front Against Gambling”, in a move the Front’s leader said signals that the Senate may struggle to pass the country’s wide-ranging gambling legalisation bill.

The project was created through a single-round vote last week after being approved by Senator Eduardo Girão of Podemos.

“I visited countries, I talked to the academic world, I talked to inspection and control institutions inside and outside Brazil, and I was appalled by what is behind gambling: a very powerful lobby that destroys entire lives and families,” Girão said in introducing the motion.

Senator Angelo Coronel was the lone voter against the motion.