Brazil's provisional measure (MP) banning betting could be overturned by Supreme Federal Court Justice Luiz Fux or lapse in Congress, according to Paulo Ganime, Executive Director of the Free Market Association.
The association is the permanent technical arm of the Free Market Parliamentary Front in Congress.
Ganime said lawmakers are worried about the measure's effect on legal certainty for sectors that held contracts with betting companies, including football clubs and radio and TV broadcasters.
Even members of Congress opposed to betting operators were uneasy about how the ban was implemented, he said, with no transition period for affected companies.
"The companies weren't prepared for this measure, with no transition rules,” he said.
“Imagine a football championship with Latin American teams, will it be impossible to have a game in Brazil because teams from neighboring countries have betting advertising on their uniforms? Won't games broadcast in other countries be broadcast in Brazil?"
"Banning betting houses will open a gap for the growth of clandestine betting operators," Ganime said, echoing the industry’s most recurring thought.
On the measure's outlook, Ganime considers it most likely that Congress lets the MP expire rather than approving the ban. A less likely scenario, in his view, would be Congress rejecting the measure and then debating a bill on the subject, which he called "the ideal format for analyzing this type of topic."
Luiz Felipe Maia, Founding Partner of MYLaw Advogados, has echoed these ideas in an exclusive Global Gaming Insider interview. But he also added that "the industry allowed its commercial presence to grow much faster than public trust."
Operators had until October 5 to allow users to voluntarily withdraw their funds and began going offline on October 6
