Brazil marks the 79th anniversary of the closure of casinos this Wednesday.
This Wednesday, April 30th, Brazil marks the 79th anniversary of the enactment of Decree-Law 9.215 of April 30, 1946, by President Marshal Eurico Gaspar Dutra, which closed casinos in Brazil. President Dutra, who had been in power for only 100 days, was 'induced' to take the initiative by the Minister of Justice, Carlos Luz, the Cardinal Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Dom Jayme de Barros Câmara, and his wife, Dona Carmela 'Santinha' Dutra. The great irony is that Dutra was elected thanks to the support of Getúlio Vargas, who had legalized casinos 12 years earlier.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Brazil experienced the golden age of casinos. At its peak, more than 71 gambling establishments operated in the country—from Rio, the capital of the Republic, to the tiny town of São Lourenço, in southern Minas Gerais. In the halls, men in suits and women in long dresses gambled money on roulette wheels and playing cards.
The booming casino business collapsed suddenly. On April 30, 1946, three months after assuming the Presidency of the Republic, General Eurico Gaspar Dutra took the country by surprise and, with a decree-law, ordered the end of gambling.
Dutra argued that the "moral, legal, and religious tradition" of Brazilians is incompatible with gambling, that gambling is "harmful to morals and good customs," that "cultured peoples" do not tolerate it, and that suppressing gambling is an "imperative of universal conscience."
The press reacted as if he had saved the nation. "We will not withhold our applause from General Dutra for the courageous, strong, and benevolent decree eradicating the leprosy of gambling," celebrated the Correio da Manhã newspaper.
The Jornal do Brasil wrote that casinos "make people believe that life's problems are solved not through work and saving, but through luck and chance, at the whim of the roulette wheel."
Documents held in the Senate Archives in Brasília show that the majority of senators and representatives also sided with the president. They were in the National Constituent Assembly, tasked with drafting the 1946 Constitution.
Seaside resorts
Gambling houses had been prohibited since the Empire. In 1920, President Epitácio Pessoa decided to legalize casinos, but only in seaside resorts with natural climates and water features. The tax from gambling would fund basic sanitation in the interior of Brazil.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the only type of tourism that existed in the country was health tourism. Families spent time in places like Campos do Jordão (SP) and Petrópolis (RJ), seeking the healing powers of the mountain climate, or Poços de Caldas (MG) and Águas de São Pedro (SP), looking for baths in therapeutic waters. With the legalization of gambling, these places also became popular for their casino hotels.
The government's idea was that, restricted to tourist resorts and linked to hotels, the casinos would be frequented by tourists, not the local population.
Initially, however, the game lived on a tightrope. Throughout the 1920s, closures were as frequent as openings. The business was hampered by judges' decisions and laws from governors and mayors opposed to gambling. The federal government itself even went so far as to close casinos, since they were a concession that could be revoked at any time.
It was only with Vargas' rise to power in 1930 that casinos prospered. The president issued decrees encouraging the construction of these establishments. The appointees that Vargas placed in the position of governors followed the same path.
The tax on gambling stopped going to the federal government and started being collected by the municipalities, which motivated the mayors to also want casinos.
The capital would soon have three major entertainment centers. The Copacabana Palace casino, which had been forced to close its doors years before, reopened in 1932. The Urca Casino opened in 1933. At the Atlântico Casino, the roulette wheel began spinning in 1935.
Casinos were not just about gambling. They were large entertainment complexes. Gamblers could dine in the restaurant, have drinks in the piano bar, dance to the orchestra in the ballroom, and watch musicals in the theater.
According to O Cruzeiro magazine, the restaurant at the Quitandinha casino hotel in Petrópolis was run "by the greatest chef in the modern world, coming from the Savoy [London hotel]", and served "120 types of cold cuts, fish from all over the world, rare and tasty birds, old and almost extinct wines".
The government did not allow advertising of gambling. What the casinos advertised in newspapers and on the radio were the shows. Stars on the casino stages ranged from the actor Grande Otelo and the pianist Dick Farney to the American singer and actor Bing Crosby and the daring French dancer Josephine Baker.
In the late 1930s, Carmen Miranda was the most sought-after artist by Rio's casinos. Her dazzling performances in Rio's nightlife would pave the way for her stardom in the USA.
There were other strategies to attract players.
— The Urca Casino had an agreement with Rio's taxi drivers. Whenever a taxi dropped off a gambler, the casino paid for the ride. And the gambler even got a chip to play with — says journalist João Perdigão, co-author of O Rei da Roleta (Casa da Palavra publishing house), a biography of the mega-gambling entrepreneur Joaquim Rolla.
Stab
A limited number of games were allowed, including roulette, campista, baccarat, and écarté. Those under 21 years of age were not allowed to enter.
In 1933, admission to a casino in Rio cost 10 réis. For comparison, a newspaper cost 300 réis.
Vargas was overthrown in October 1945. The presidential election, scheduled for December, became polarized between General Eurico Gaspar Dutra and Brigadier Eduardo Gomes.
One of the brigadier's most emphatic campaign promises was to close the casinos. He belonged to the UDN, a party with conservative ideals. Dutra preferred to remain silent on the matter. Thus, the casino owners wholeheartedly supported the general's campaign, who won and took office on January 31st. With the brigadier's defeat, they breathed a sigh of relief. The president, however, stabbed them in the back with the decree of April 30th.
Speaking from the Constituent Assembly's podium, Representative Barreto Pinto (PTB-DF) recounted that when rumors about the decree-law surfaced, gambling entrepreneurs immediately mobilized.
"One of them I can mention: the owner of the Copacabana Palace, Mr. Octávio Guinle, whom I met at the Catete Palace, and there could be no other reason for his presence there than to try to prevent its closure," stated the congressman, who a few years later would be impeached for posing for O Cruzeiro wearing only a tailcoat and boxer shorts.
It is not known precisely why Dutra decided to stop the casino business. There are several hypotheses. According to one of them, the intention was to erase the traces of the Vargas era. Congressman Euclides Figueiredo (UDN-DF), father of President João Figueiredo, described the casinos as "temples of worship of the dictator".
The newspaper Diário Carioca reported that "the gambling dens became the property of the entire Vargas family," implying that they could only operate because they paid bribes to the president.
Another version is that Dutra was persuaded by his Minister of Justice, Carlos Luz, who, born and raised in the interior of Minas Gerais, had an aversion to gambling.
Little Saint Lady
On the eve of the ban, O Globo published an explosive report with never-before-seen photos of mountains of money on a table at the Cassino Atlântico at the end of a night of gambling. According to another theory, these images infuriated the president.
The most mundane version, however, is that the casinos were closed at the request of the first lady, Carmela Dutra — called Dona Santinha by her close friends. A devout Catholic, she is said to have joined the Catholic Church's crusade against the corrupt and libidinous environment of the casinos and pressured her husband.
The police conducted raids throughout the country to ensure the law was enforced. It was a veritable witch hunt. The authorities even made a fuss about the radio show Cassino da Chacrinha, hosted by Abelardo Barbosa, simply because of the program's name.
The decree-law resonated for several weeks in the Constituent Assembly. Enthusiastic, Congressman Barreto Pinto, the same one who would later be impeached for posing in a tailcoat and underwear, proposed to the parliamentarians that they transform the prohibition of gambling into a clause of the Constitution that was being drafted:
The ban should be constitutional in nature, preventing casinos from reopening sooner or later, which is already being rumored.
Lawmakers considered it an exaggeration and rejected the amendment. (With information from Agência Senado )
The last round
At 23 p.m. on April 30th, José Caribé da Rocha, director of the Copacabana Palace Casino, approached the roulette table, surrounded by gamblers, friends, and employees, and said: 'Ladies and Gentlemen, place your bets for the last round of roulette in Brazil!' He spun the cylinder, released the ivory ball, and with tears and a voice choked with emotion, sang: 'Black, 31!'
In Brazil's 71 casinos, the atmosphere was like a wake. The faces reflected the feelings of some 55 unemployed people, from the gaming halls and grill rooms.
The games that took place in casinos attracted Brazilian high society. Many Brazilian artists of the time had started their careers on casino stages.
The ban left a legion of unemployed people, from waiters to singers.
With the closure of the casinos in 1946, employees of numerous specialties found themselves unemployed overnight. From receptionists and security guards to choreographers and dancers. From cooks and waiters to orchestra musicians and singers. From cleaners and electricians to seamstresses and ironers. From makeup artists and hairdressers to roller operators (responsible for maintaining the roulette wheels) and croupiers (who ran the game at each table), according to a report by the Senate Agency.
It is estimated that the 1946 decree banning gambling left 55 Brazilians unemployed. This number, which also included indirect jobs, was not insignificant. Brazil had 41 million inhabitants.
The newspapers were so determined in their campaign against gambling that they even managed to get statements from casino employees and patrons who paradoxically favored the ban.
"I don't know how I'll make a living from now on, but I can't help but think the measure is correct," said an employee of the Copacabana Palace casino to the Diário de Notícias . "Those who work in establishments of this kind are aware of the countless misfortunes that this cursed vice can cause. Unwary heads of families, hoping to increase their meager salaries, throw themselves at the green felt and end up losing everything they have. It's pitiful to see those faces transfigured by the disappointments that roulette and baccarat inflict on them."
"Gambling was a serious danger and an evil that was getting worse and worse," the regular stated, immediately followed by a question about whether he wouldn't miss the casinos. "I think so, but I'll eventually forget. I'll find another way to distract myself."
The plight of the unemployed has reached the National Constituent Assembly. Deputy José Fontes Romero (PSD-DF) stated that President Dutra, in abolishing gambling, addressed the “just demands of Brazil’s working population,” but ultimately forgot to “support the Brazilians who worked in the gambling establishments.”
The lawmakers even got into a heated argument on the floor. Representative Rui Almeida (PTB-DF) demanded that the government support the workers. Representative Adelmar Rocha (UDN-PI) disagreed.
— Your Excellency would be better off saying “offenders” instead of “workers”.
Almeida reacted:
— I protest against my colleague's aggressive attitude. The illegal gambling operator is the banker, the one who exploits the game. An employee is always an employee, not an illegal gambling operator.
Representative Segadas Viana (PTB-DF) joined his party colleague in condemning his UDN colleague:
"No lawbreakers! There were doormen, musicians, and many other kinds of employees there, all as dignified as Your Excellency and we are."
The Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT), from 1943, established that whenever a government measure extinguished any activity, the government would have to compensate the workers. Dutra, however, warned that he would not honor a commitment made by the Estado Novo dictatorship.
The decree-law prohibiting gambling was issued on April 30th. The following week, on May 11th, the government issued a new decree-law, this one establishing that the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws) did not apply to the specific case of casinos. From this second regulation, it can be deduced that the prohibition was decided hastily, without in-depth debate about the consequences.
The unions appealed to the courts, arguing that those laid off between April 30th and May 11th should indeed be compensated by the government. The final decision rested with the Supreme Federal Court, which ruled that the labor debts were not the responsibility of the government, but of the employers. Since almost all of them went bankrupt, a large portion of the former employees never saw a penny. Cases like that of the Copacabana Palace hotel, which survived without its casino, were exceptions.
Draft bills to legalize casinos
From April 1946 to the present day, dozens of bills have been under consideration in the National Congress to legalize and regulate casinos and gambling in the country.
On February 24, 2022, the Chamber of Deputies approved Bill 442/91, which legalizes gambling in the country. Bill 2.234/2022 , which legalizes casinos in resorts and tourist areas, bingo, and the jogo do bicho (a type of lottery), is currently in the Senate Plenary, under the rapporteurship and favorable opinion of Senator Irajá.
If Bill 2234/22 is approved by the senators without modification, it will go to the president for approval. If there are changes to the text, the matter returns to the Chamber of Deputies.
The influential Brazilian first lady who was monitored by the FBI and allegedly 'banned' gambling.
