Land-Based Casinos Will Arrive In Brazil During Q1 Says Finance Minister

Brazil’s finance minister, Celso Sabino, has said he expects approval for land-based casinos to come in the first half of 2025. The news comes following the successful launch of the country’s iGaming market which has seen 14 companies granted full licenses and more than 50 others given provisional licenses.

Retail casino legislation was hit by multiple delays throughout 2024, with the most recent coming on December 4, when Senator Iraja Silvestre withdrew PL 2,234/2022 following a debate regarding the proposal. At the time, Rodrigo Pacheco, president of the Senate, said that it would be debated in 2025. Sabino has said he expects this to happen in the next few months.

Online Casino Regulations

In a lot of countries, online casinos like Lucky Block have overtaken their physical counterparts, in terms of numbers, popularity, and the revenue and tax revenue they generate. Online casinos are convenient and accessible, even enabling remote players to be able to access them. They also offer access to more games, including those typically only found in casinos in other parts of the world. And, thanks to recent innovations, they can offer instant payments, anonymous gaming, and even the immersion of live dealers at the tables. 

There are some strict rules that operators must adhere to. The website itself must be on a .br domain, to enable players and regulators to determine which sites are regulated in the country. Bettors are required to submit and use facial recognition, to help ensure age and other requirements are met. Betting with credit cards and cryptocurrencies is also prohibited, with only bank transfers from the Central Bank of Brazil being allowed.

The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) has said that the regulations aim to help prevent black market betting sites from operating in the country.

Brazilian Online Casinos Introduced

The popularity and potential returns of online casinos have seen some countries clamor to regulate and license them. They could potentially make countries a lot of money in tax revenue. Brazil approved legislation for online betting back in 2018 but it took until December 2023 for online gambling to get the full green light and another year before any sites actually went live.

On January 1 this year, Brazil’s first online gambling websites went live. 14 companies had been granted licenses at that point, but a further 52 have been given provisional licenses. A provisional license means that a company needs to make one or more corrections or changes before it can be given a full license. Even if some of those provisional licenses fail to come to fruition, Brazilian gamblers will have a lot of choices.

Considering the companies involved have already paid a $4.8 million license application fee, it seems likely the vast majority will make the necessary changes within the 30-day deadline.

Casino Tax Revenues

The new online casinos are subject to a 12% tax against gross gambling revenue, as well as a raft of other taxable contributions. It is estimated that companies will end up paying an effective tax rate of around 36%.

This means the country has one of the highest gambling taxation rates in the world. The UK levies a tax rate of 21% against online operators, but only taxes profits, which puts its levies at a much lower level.

However, the size of the market in Brazil means it is still appealing to operators. Surveys suggest that around half of Brazilians gambled online at least once a month in 2022, and the country has a population of more than 210 million people. There is surely substantial room for profits.

Voting On Physical Casinos

Following the successful launch of online betting, many Brazilians and operators are hoping that retail casino regulations will now follow. Following numerous rounds of negotiation and debate, bill PL 2,234/2022 was finally approved by the Justice and Citizenship Committee in June 2024. It passed with a vote of 14/12 in favor. And was passed to the Senate plenary committee.

Despite calls by Senator Iraja Abreu to push the bill through, it was finally pulled in December. At the time, Rodrigo Pacheco, president of the Senate, said that the bill would be voted on in 2025. This was done to allow responses from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, as well as other stakeholder groups. Pacheco said he expected responses within 30 days of the withdrawal.

According to Celso Sabino, the country’s minister of tourism, that vote should happen in the first few months of the year. Sabino said he expects the bill to be approved and sanctioned in the first half of the year. Casino tourism is certainly big business. Las Vegas brings in tens of billions of dollars every year, thanks primarily to casino tourism, and around a third of all employment in the region comes from the casinos and hotels of the area. Macau, in China, has similarly impressive tourism and gambling expenditures.

The Casino Bill

The bill includes proposals to allow casinos in tourist centers and integrated resorts. They will also be allowed on river ships and other maritime vessels. Each state will be permitted one casino with some of the country’s biggest states being allowed up to three. Bingo will also be permitted, with the number of licenses granted according to the number of local citizens, and horse racing betting will be allowed at tracks, which will also be allowed to incorporate gaming machines and video poker machines.

The bill also dictates that new taxes will be introduced for gaming companies and operators, although it doesn’t specify the exact rate of taxes.

Poker is popular and already legal in Brazil, as it is considered a game of chance, rather than a game of luck. Regulations may change the way poker is treated, but it does not feature in the bill currently being debated. National lotteries are also legal, as they provide funding to charities and national initiatives, however, the regulation of online casinos and the likely regulation of physical casinos represents a significant shift in Brazil’s gambling industry.