Edgar Lenzi’s analysis:
When it was published that the Senate's CCJ would be voting PLS 186/2014 yesterday (March 7th) a lot of attention has been drawn to such situation, as the gambling community has focused Brazil as its main target.
Unfortunately the Senate's CCJ vote rejected PLS 186/2014 by a score of 13 x 2.
The project, however, can still be voted by the Senate's Plenary, in a more complicated scenario, however. Now, it is required to have a requirement proposed by a Speaker Senator - what is not expected to happen this year - for a plenary vote. Also, Plenary vote can be expected since the project had a favorable report from a special commission, besides the negative report from the CCJ. Also, the supporting Senators would need to reject the contrary negative Report done by Senator Randolfe Rodrigues at the CCJ, and present a new Substitute Project.
At the CCJ meeting, some Senators surprised everyone as many that were to vote in favor changed their votes at the last moment. Federal Deputies that support the legalization of only casinos were seen at the CCJ session and some chats may suggest that they were the influence that caused a change of votes at the last minute. This could be their a strategy to strengthen the New Tourism Bill, gathering support and votes for their proposition.
Such possibility for the legalization of only casinos would be possible by the New Tourism Bill. This bill currently has an urgency request that is waiting to be voted. If approved, things could move really fast at the Chamber's Plenary. Besides having a new amendment to the New Tourism Bill, there are also two other possibilities: The inclusion of PL 442/1991 as an annex of such bill, or the inclusion of some provisions of PL 442/1991 to the New Tourism Bill.
As for PL 442/1991, it is still waiting to be included in the Chamber's agenda for voting (and has not seen any development recently). It is more likely that the mentioned project shall be included as an annex of the New Tourism Bill or have portions of its text included in it.
On the other hand there are still the LOTEX privatization and a possible new Sports Betting bill that could be proposed by the Ministry of Finance.
So, in conclusion, with PLS 186/2014 was rejected by the Senate's CCJ, which demonstrates that it has lost some force and that, on the other hand, the New Tourism Bill has gained force. Both projects can still be voted, however, PLS 186/2014 would require a Substitute Project and the New Tourism Bill would need either a new amendment for the inclusion of casinos, the inclusion of PL 442/1991 as an annex, or the inclusion of Casino provisions of PL 442/1991. As for LOTEX and Sports Betting possibilities, they are moving forward.
Source: Exclusive GMB
