“There is no protection for bets in the Chamber”, says Hugo Motta

The president of Chamber of DeputiesHugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), stated this Thursday (26) that the exclusion of taxation on sports betting from the PL Antifaction This was due to “incompatibility” with the main objective of the proposal and not due to an attempt to protect the betting sector.

During an interview with the portal MetropolisesMotta explained that the creation of Cide-Betsa fixed-quota betting tax that could raise up to R$30 billion per year to finance public security and the prison system, was removed from the final text of the project so as not to compromise the focus of the matter, centered on combating organized crime.

The tax had been included in the project report, authored by the rapporteur in the Senate, and provided for a 15% rate on bets until the new Selective Tax of the tax reform came into force in 2027. However, the measure ended up being suppressed during the vote in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies, which approved the project without this provision.

Asked about the possibility of the removal of the section benefiting online betting companies, Motta denied any intention to “protect” the sector. For him, approving high taxation that was impossible to comply with in practice could even favor companies that operate outside of the law, given the difficulty of effective collection.

“In no way did we want to protect bets. We faced the debate honestly, and the Chamber’s decision was to withdraw this charge that was placed in the Senate, precisely for this reason, due to technical incompatibility, because we had already increased the tax on bets and so as not to favor the illegality of a sector that is beginning to be legalized in the country”, he stated.

The Antifaction PL had already passed through the Senate, but returned for new analysis after changes in the Chamber. The text now goes to presidential sanction without Cide-Bets’ prediction, opening space for the discussion on the taxation of bets to be resumed in another specific project.

Analysts highlight that the removal of taxation generated debate behind the scenes in Congress and raises questions about the best way to integrate tax rules into the debate on public security and regulation of the betting market in Brazil.