Starting from the end of the Second World War, Brazil made almost all forms of gambling illegal. The laws have remained, even today, though it doesn’t do much to prevent the citizens of Brazil from participating in online gambling sites that aren’t based in Brazil. Laws in 1946 made gambling legal in forms excluding bingo, horse racing and lotteries. Gambling has a rich history in Brazil, and has continued to thrive. It’s estimated to have reached the worth of $265 million, and certainly shows no signs of slowing down. Recent attempts to legalize and regulate online gambling have been made, though the government is still anti-gambling.
In Brazil, a few types of gambling have been added to the “allowed” list by the legislation. For example, video gambling has been gaining popularity since its rise to fame in the 90s. A loophole in the law allowed bingo machines to encourage teams and events that revolved around betting. Online gambling, however, didn’t emerge in Brazil until 2004. Some confusion revolves around the legality of online casinos. The laws never hinted at gambling of this brand, however there have yet to be any online casinos established in Brazil. That doesn’t mean there aren’t many who advertise their services to those living in Brazil, and in fact, many accept popular forms of payment in Brazil.
The law doesn’t prohibit the ability for citizens of Brazil to gamble online through sites based elsewhere. However, the Brazilian government has continuously opposed all forms of online gambling and has made numerous attempts to make it illegal to participate in online betting games. The first attempt was in 2008, when they attempted an act along the lines of the AIGEA. It was extremely unsuccessful. The second attempt followed a year later, when they tried to force ISP providers located in Brazil to block gambling sites from other countries, as well as any online casino. Their last attempt was in 2010, in which they attempted to banish financial transactions of all types between Brazil citizens and gambling websites of other countries. However, they were unable to get much backing to their attempts.
Gambling in Brazil
There are talks of regulating online and live gambling, and eventually legalizing it completely, as the government begins to realize that those who play will want to play no matter what. However, there are three things that operators will have to meet: technical requirements, financial earning requirements and taxation requirements. While it hasn’t been officially decided, the talks are hopeful and likely to go through.
However, for those Brazilian citizens who wish to start playing the online casinos now, there are a number of foreign gambling operators that are happy to process Brazilian transactions. They use Boleto Bancario, and other payment forms, as well as offer online casino websites in Portuguese. There are many that offer the popular, classic and modern online games that have come to know and love. Taking part in online gambling in Brazil isn’t the chore that it used to be.