The Future of Gambling in Brazil Is Uncertain Because a Runoff Presidential Election Is Required

In the run-up to the elections for Brazil’s government, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was considered to be a small favorite to unseat Jair Bolsonaro, who is the country’s current president. He did, but the margin wasn’t sufficient to prevent a second vote, which means that there is still no clear winner despite the fact that the first vote was held.

On Sunday, Lula da Silva won the first round of voting for president in Brazil’s presidential elections. The candidate of the Workers’ Party is now ahead of Bolsonaro by 48.4% to 43.2% with 100% of the votes tallied.

The votes were extremely close, which means there will be a runoff election. On October 30, they will take place, and it is possible that the result will be different as a result of them.

Too Close to the Wire

The outcome of the election on Sunday did not match what the polls indicated would happen. Before the vote was even counted, Lula da Silva held a commanding lead. He received more than 51 percent of the vote, which would have meant that a runoff election would have been necessary.

The findings that were supplied by the Superior Electoral Court, often known by its Portuguese abbreviation, TSE, provide an inside glimpse at what was actually going on. Because both candidates put in a lot of effort to get each vote, the race in the second round is likely to be very closer.

The future of the country, including the gambling business, will be determined by the outcome of the presidential election. Bolsonaro has made it quite obvious that he is not a huge admirer of legalized sports betting, and he has used this stance as a central tenet of his campaign platform.

Lula da Silva is not leaping for joy at the opportunity to open the sector either, despite the fact that he has it. On the other hand, it appears as though he might be open to backing the law if it were to be passed by Congress.

When the polls opened on Sunday, Bolsonaro was in the lead, but as the day progressed and the ballots were tallied, Lula da Silva began to close the gap. When 70% of the votes were counted, he had already taken the lead and he didn’t give it up.

There will be a runoff election because he did not receive more than half of the votes cast. If he had merely hit that threshold, it would have ensured that he would become president without the need for voters to go to the polls a second time.

The expansion of Brazil’s gaming business at some point during this year was already a questionable assumption. The results of the elections were never going to have any impact on the timeline, which means that 2023 would have very certainly been the earliest that Congress would have made a decision.

Because the contest is so tight, there is a possibility that Jair Bolsonaro will be able to maintain his influence over the government. The casino owners and operators wouldn’t take too well to hearing something like this.

A House of Cards

Should Lula da Silva emerge victorious in the election, he will have a difficult time garnering support in Congress. After the results of the remaining elections were tallied, it became abundantly evident that Bolsonaro would emerge victorious in Congress.

The Liberal Party, which is led by Bolsonaro, will have the most seats in the Senate, with 14 out of 81. It will also hold a majority in the Chamber of Deputies, 99 seats out of 513 total. The majority of legislative representation will be conservative, which would place any potential future administration led by Lula de Silva in a challenging position.

When it comes to the battle in the states, 11 of the 27 will be controlled by conservatives. Three of them are going to join Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party. The remaining contestants will likewise continue on to the second round. Bolsonaro was victorious in Rio de Janeiro and is now in the lead in Sao Paulo, which is the country’s economic powerhouse.

Romeu Zema, a conservative, will take the helm of Minas Gerais, the state that has the second highest population. He originally backed Bolsonaro, but now he says that he takes no side in the election.