Brazil's tourism minister thinks that land-based casinos will be approved in the first half of the year.

Brazil's tourism minister thinks that land-based casinos will be approved in the first half of the year.

Brazil's tourism minister thinks that land-based casinos will be approved in the first half of the year.

 Celso Sabino, Brazil's minister of tourism, says that the vote to allow land-based casinos will likely happen in the first half of 2025.
 Brazil gambling on land
 Brazil's regulated online betting market opened on January 1. However, the bill to legalise land-based casinos was pushed back several times in 2024, which made people wonder if regulated gambling would also come to real-life casinos.

 The Justice and Citizenship Committee passed PL 2,234/2022 in June, by a vote of 14-12. This made casinos, bingo, jogo de bicho, and betting on horse races acceptable.

 But it still hasn't been decided on by the senate. The most recent delay happened on December 4, when senator Irajá Silvestre pulled the bill after a debate about it.

 Rodrigo Pacheco, the president of the Senate at the time, said that the bill would be passed on in 2025. Sabino thinks that this will happen in the next few months.

 "The casino bill has already been approved by the chamber of deputies and is now in the senate," Sabino told M&E.  "We think that the president will sign off on it in the first half of 2025."

 Land-based casinos in Brazil are good for the economy.
 Brazil is going to have one of the highest tax rates on gambling in the world. Online betting will be taxed at 12% of the gross gambling income (GGR), and other items will also be taxed.

 Because the market is so big and has so much promise, it looks like Brazil's government will also gain a lot economically.

 International companies are already investing in Brazil's online market. This year, big names like Bet365 and BetMGM came to the country.

 Legalisation on land seems to be on the way as well, which means that companies like Hard Rock International may want to invest in Brazil even more.

 Alex Pariente, Hard Rock's corporate senior vice president of casino and hotel operations, told iGB that the company's experience with gambling places around the world will help it do well in Brazil when the market opens.

 "The company can build relationships with local business owners," Pariente said. "These could be construction companies, banks, or gambling brands."  "We love working together on places where we want to put our projects."

 "I feel like it would be the same in Brazil."  We're not going there to force our will on them or anything.  We are only going there to put together the best team that will help us build a successful property that will meet the needs of both the government and the company.

 Against having casinos on land
 In the second half of 2024, Brazil paid a lot of attention to online gaming because people thought it was having a big effect on the country's economy and society.

 People didn't like the online sector because they thought it changed people's spending habits, especially those who were weak, like those on the Bolsa Família social aid program.

 People are also against legalising gambling on land. In December, Senator Eduardo Girúo said, "We had a signal from the betting companies, which we approved exactly one year ago here, and we made a mistake, and the mistake is there: lives destroyed."  We can't go one step further or make another mistake that could make things worse instead of better.

 However, important people like Silvestre and Sabino are still sure the bill will be passed. They say that legalisation will make betting safer by putting an end to the black market.