Belo Horizonte Betting Advertising Ban Delayed as City Council Withdraws Bill from Vote

A bill seeking to prohibit the promotion of betting companies’ brands in Belo Horizonte has been withdrawn from voting due to the sponsor recognizing a lack of support for the legislation.

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Councilor Pedro Rousseff withdrew the bill from the voting agenda at a plenary session held on June 10th, thus preventing a second round of voting that needed a minimum of 21 approvals from attending councilors. Although it was positively evaluated during the first round of voting, the proposal has been postponed at least until July.

Rousseff explained that more consultations need to be held prior to bringing back the bill for voting. “We lacked support today, so we asked for postponing it for one month, so that we could discuss everything with all 41 councilors and approve it“, he explained to Estado de Minas.

The postponement represents the second time the proposal was put on hold, with the initial suspension coming after the Belo Horizonte municipal administration requested it in April so as to evaluate the bills.

Two Bills Limit Advertising of the Betting Industry

With the withdrawal of the bill, another related bill has also been halted. According to the regulations of the local legislature, all projects annexed to the withdrawn bill cannot advance anymore either.

Even though they have the same objective, the two bills are different. While Rousseff’s bill regulates how betting companies advertise themselves in public places as well as through social media, the proposal presented by Ferreira includes prohibitions on the signing of agreements between municipal institutions and betting operators, as well as giveaways, coupons, tournaments, events promoted by operators, and kiosks that grant direct access to the websites of the gambling companies.

In addition, the bill aims to ban betting operators from purchasing naming rights for any municipal property.

Reasons for Approval: Gambling Harms and Indebtedness

The supporters of the bills cite gambling addiction and excessive indebtedness as key reasons for their introduction.

After the postponement, Ferreira criticized the move and explained that people would continue getting affected by the ads as long as the debate is ongoing.

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“The process is suspended, and for this reason, people of our municipality will keep receiving those advertisements. They will continue suffering because of these ads, suffering from addiction. Many of them have loan sharks at their door, suffer from medical treatment, and many of their families have been ruined by debt“, he said.

During his speech before the council, the councilor cited betting-related promotions seen during the celebration of events in the municipality, including Belo Horizonte’s Carnival.

“In Municipal Park during the Carnival, there were betting promotions the entire time. Everyone who went saw them; they were everywhere, even at Avenida Afonso Pena and during the Carnival itself. Belotur signed agreements with betting companies and spread advertising throughout our city“, he explained.

Another Example of a Growing Trend

Nevertheless, Rousseff expressed his intention to reintroduce the bill for voting during the next month. “This proposal is way too important for us not to approve it“, he said.

In his opinion, the adoption of the bill would make Belo Horizonte the pioneering city regarding the regulation of the advertising of betting operators. “We will make Belo Horizonte the first capital city in Brazil to approve this kind of project to limit these terrible things for society, such as betting sites and the ‘fortune tiger’ games“, he said.

Still, this is far from the case since other municipalities have already passed such laws. For instance, earlier this year, Teresina adopted legislation to regulate betting companies’ advertisements on municipal public properties, while other cities like Goiânia are considering passing bills on the same topic.

Besides that, the ongoing discussion reflects another ongoing debate that is developing around betting advertising at the legal level in Brazil. Thus, in April, the state of Rio Grande do Sul approved new prohibitions on betting advertising that faced challenges from the National Association of Gaming and Lotteries (ANJL). According to the association, the regulation of advertising is the competence of the Federation only.

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Source: BNL Data