Brazil’s president vetoes sports betting law, approves new gambling fines

Brazil’s president has vetoed legislation that would have authorized legal sports betting.

Last month, Brazil’s senate approved its 671/2015 legislation, aka the MP Football bill due to segments intended to boost funding for the country’s football teams. The bill contained provisions for the creation of two new lotteries, including the country’s first legal fixed-odds sports betting products.

Last Wednesday, Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff signed the bill into law, but not before vetoing 36 of its clauses, including the fixed-odds section. The veto is theoretically subject to an override, although it’s unclear whether a sufficient number of legislators would support such a move.

In a message to the country’s parliamentarians, Rouseff justified this veto by saying the creation of this betting product “would require a more comprehensive regulation, to ensure greater legal and economic security to the sport, adequate levels of fraud control and tax evasion.’ Rouseff also cited the bill’s lack of mechanisms “to prevent possible social impact.”