A divided senate, numerous interest groups, and an election campaign for the highest political office. The ban on sports betting and online casinos in Brazil is getting more complicated by the day.
Brazil’s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has banned gambling on the internet with a provisional measure. The 188 licensed online casinos and bookmakers had little time to act.
Almost all have already ceased operations, but more than 26 million customers are still waiting for their payouts. That’s more than $264 million. The operators, meanwhile, are also still waiting for money. It’s currently unclear whether licence fees will be refunded.
At the same time, there’s still hope that at least sports betting will be excluded from the ban. Further uncertainty exists over whether the ban will hold up at all. The senate must first turn the measure into law.
But since Brazil is in the middle of a presidential election campaign, interest groups want the ban overturned now. Flávio Bolsonaro, who is heading into the runoff against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, wants the Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal; STF) to decide only after the election.
According to UOL, Minister Luiz Fux of the STF wants to decide only after the election, so as not to give either presidential candidate an advantage. The interest groups, however, are well positioned, because billions are to be invested in football.
Several football clubs have announced they will protest publicly. The plan is to take the field with the slogan “proibir não é proteger” (banning is not protecting) on their jerseys. At the same time, supporters argue that the ban is simply illegal:
“The abrupt change implemented by the provisional measure should have been accompanied by concrete evidence of the reasons that would justify completely or partially abandoning a policy that the same executive branch had still been deepening until a few weeks earlier” said a petition.