The Senate Economic Affairs Committee (CAE) approved this Tuesday (13) a bill that allocates lottery revenue to eSports. Authored by Senator Izalci Lucas, the text received a favorable report from rapporteur Rodrigo Cunha and now moves to the Sports Committee (CEsp).
The bill amends Law 9.615, from 1998, to include the Brazilian Confederation of Games and e-Sports (CBGE) in the National Sports System, which aims to promote and enhance performance sports practices. Additionally, it amends Law 13.756, from 2018, increasing the percentage of lottery revenue allocated to sports from the current 4.36% to 4.40%. This 0.04% increase in revenue must be entirely allocated to the CBGE.
Current legislation already allocates percentages of lottery revenues to other sports entities, such as the Brazilian Olympic Committee, which receives 1.73%; the Brazilian Paralympic Committee, which receives 0.96%; the Brazilian Committee of Clubs, which receives 0.46%; among others.
Promotion
Bill 6.118/2023 stipulates that the collected funds must be applied exclusively to programs and projects for the promotion, development, and maintenance of sports, human resources training, technical preparation, maintenance and transportation of athletes, participation in sports events, and covering administrative expenses, as regulated.
The Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) is responsible for overseeing the correct application of the funds.
Senator Izalci Lucas points out that electronic sports, which correspond to the competitive mode of virtual games, have already been regulated and recognized as a sports category in several countries, such as France, South Korea, South Africa, India, and Taiwan.
For him, eSports have the advantage of being equally contested between men and women, since gender does not influence competitiveness.
“eSports are an interesting emerging sports modality, bringing together men and women side by side or even facing each other as opponents,” argues the legislator in the justification of the project.
Senator Rodrigo Cunha recalls that the global market for electronic sports moved about US$ 1 billion in 2021 and that the tournaments are followed by 230 million people worldwide.
He considers that the allocation of resources to this modality meets the principle of constitutional equality. “There is no justification for discriminatory treatment against this sports modality,” he emphasizes in the report.
Source: Senate Agency
