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Less than two weeks after announcing concrete steps to open the Brazilian market at ICE, the country’s would-be chief gambling regulator is no longer working for the government.

Jose Francisco Manssur, special advisor to Brazil’s Ministry of Finance, was informed of his departure on Friday (February 16), according to a report in the leading national news publication Globo that was confirmed in a later statement from the ministry.

Manssur was hired by the Lula government roughly a year ago to formulate implementing legislation to introduce a national licensing regime for sports betting and, as the process evolved, wider forms of online gaming.

Earlier this month, Manssur told delegates at ICE that publication of an initial set of regulatory decrees to implement December’s Law 14.790 was imminent and that a first licensing window for operators would be opened as soon as March.

Although his future was the subject of speculation among ICE delegates, it had been expected that Manssur would be appointed to head the newly created betting and lotteries secretariat within the Ministry of Finance that will ultimately be charged with licensing and overseeing operators under the law.

One close observer said the news would come as a surprise to the industry, which has sought a series of meetings with Manssur to prepare for the new regulatory regime.

“It is likely to impact the timing and we have to hope that the new secretariat has good intentions,” the observer said.

The Ministry of Finance statement did not specify why Manssur was being relieved of his duties.

But one theory is that the position of Secretariat for Prizes and Betting has taken on greater political prominence ahead of the the imminent licensing of operators in what is expected to be a multibillion-dollar market. 

As such, congressional leaders or other political powerbrokers may have their own views as to who should take the role.

Whoever becomes Brazil’s chief gambling official will have a stacked in-tray that includes making a series of critical policy decisions in interpreting various provisions of Law 14.790.

As highlighted by 91����ԭ�� GamblingCompliance’s recent Brazil Online Outlook report, that includes deciding whether bonuses will be allowed and interpreting the statutory requirement for each licensed operator to be at least 20 percent owned by a Brazilian.

Perhaps the most critical question for the new regulator, however, is deciding which forms of online casino games will be permitted under the guise of fixed-odds bets on so-called virtual online gaming events.

Manssur had raised concern in the industry with a series of recent comments that certain popular games would not be allowed based on the law’s definition of fixed-odds bet.