Brazilian Chamber of Deputies will again analyze the legalization of gambling.
Amid the pandemic, Congress is once again debating the legalization of gambling and casinos in the country. The Speaker of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), created a working group that intends to discuss and update the Bill on the Regulatory Framework for Gambling in Brazil (PL 442/91), authored by former congressman Renato Vianna (PMDB-SC).
The group is composed of the following deputies: Bacelar (Podemos-BA), Felipe Carreras (PSB-PE), Newton Cardoso (MDB-MG), Herculano Passos (MDB-SP), Augusto Coutinho (Solidariedade-PE), and Otávio Leite (PSDB-RJ). The committee has 90 days to conclude its work. One of the enthusiasts of the proposal is the Minister of the Civil House, Ciro Nogueira, who, as a senator, even proposed legalization.
Felipe Carreras says the intention is to approve the substitute bill by the end of the year in the plenary session and calls the resistance to legalizing gambling hypocrisy. In his assessment, the country loses a major source of revenue and job creation due to this informality.
The coordinator of the working group, Representative Bacelar, advocates for weekly meetings to ensure the report is consensual and meets the expectations of all group members. He also emphasized the need to expedite the processing of the bill, which was approved by a special committee in 2016. “Brazil needs to move away from illegality. We cannot turn a blind eye to gambling. We all know about the hypocrisy, but we must be consistent and approve all forms of gambling,” said the congressman.
The vice-president of the Mixed Parliamentary Front in Defense of Tourism, Herculano Passos, believes in the return of casinos as a tourist attraction for Brazil. He says that thousands of Brazilians travel every year to gamble in casinos in other countries, and this stimulates the tourism production chain, including transportation, restaurants, and hotels.
“With the legalization of casinos here, some of these people would stay and spend money in Brazil, boosting our economy. Furthermore, with casinos installed in integrated leisure complexes (as proposed in both the Chamber and Senate bills), we wouldn't just attract gamblers, because these complexes would have luxury hotels, shopping malls, sports arenas, cinemas, nightclubs, concert venues, children's play areas—in short, everything that the big casinos in Las Vegas, Macau, or Singapore offer,” he said.
In the Senate, there is also a proposal under consideration aimed at legalizing the jogo do bicho (a type of illegal lottery) and casinos. According to the proposal's rapporteur, Senator Ângelo Coronel (PSD-BA), the legalization and subsequent regulation of all forms of gambling of this nature has the potential to inject up to R$ 50 billion into the economy, in addition to generating 700 direct jobs.
The legalization of gambling, however, faces declared resistance from the evangelical caucus. This group is part of President Jair Bolsonaro's support bloc. This is yet another point of friction between evangelicals and the Minister of the Civil House. Parliamentarians and evangelical leaders share responsibility with Ciro Nogueira for the uncertainty surrounding the Senate vote on former Attorney General and former Minister of Justice André Mendonça for the Supreme Federal Court.
Critics of legalization argue that gambling is a gateway to organized crime, corruption, and drug trafficking. The Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights, Damares Alves, said that if her ministry is consulted on the matter, its position will be against gambling. "They want to allow Brazilians to pay to have bad luck," the minister told CNN Brazil. (Congresso em Foco – Cynthia Araújo on Brazil)
