Legalization of gambling in Brazil will be decided in Congress.

The debate over the legalization of gambling and sports betting in Brazil is gaining increasing importance in the center of power. After more than five decades of prohibition, the issue is being strongly debated in the National Congress, at a time that seems favorable to updating the regulatory framework for gambling in the country.

Since assuming the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL) has intensified dialogue with parliamentarians who support him to bolster discussions and strengthen the agenda within the House. A few months ago, he established a Working Group made up of allied deputies to update the law that deals with the Regulatory Framework for Games.

The rapporteur for the group, Representative Felipe Carreras (PSB-PE), has stated in recent interviews that a text drafted by the working group should be presented to the Chamber's plenary session this year, but this timeline is not entirely accurate. Before presenting the updated law, representatives who endorse the legalization of gambling want to be sure that the agenda will move forward smoothly in Congress.

The idea of ​​the congressmen is to gain support in various areas of the government. As is known, the proposal under discussion in the Chamber would update not only online sports betting, but also the entire market for integrated resorts and casinos, something that would have a significant impact on Brazilian tourism.

Therefore, one of the enthusiasts of the proposal is the current Minister of Tourism, Gilson Machado. Recently, while he was president of Embratur, the current Minister of Tourism went to Las Vegas, in the USA, to learn about the structure of the mecca of casinos in the world. He was accompanied by the senator from Rio de Janeiro, Flávio Bolsonaro (Patriota), son of President Jair Bolsonaro.

Senator Angelo Coronel (PSD-BA) is the rapporteur for a bill currently being processed in the Senate that has the same objective as the Chamber's proposal: to legalize casinos and other games of chance. "The government needs to collect revenue. And gambling can generate R$ 50 billion in revenue. That's the amount the government needs for its income distribution programs," he says.

While members of Congress, senators, and ministers are trying to make the agenda viable by working in different sectors, a segment of the political class does not want to see the issue move forward. Politicians linked to the evangelical caucus vehemently reject the legalization of gambling. An example of this is the recent statement by federal deputy Marco Feliciano (Podemos-SP) in an interview with the Paraná newspaper Gazeta do Povo.

“My position against the legalization of gambling remains the same: I am viscerally opposed. And, because it is a matter of principle, it will never change,” stated the congressman. In the federal government, the Minister of Family, Women and Human Rights, Damares Alves, has already stated that legalizing gambling in the country would be like making a “pact with the devil.”

Another who holds a contrary position is the Bolsonaro-supporting senator Eduardo Girão (Podemos-CE). “Gambling brings out the worst in people and in society. And the argument that it generates jobs is a fallacy,” declares the senator. Even so, he believes the issue deserves to be evaluated more carefully by deputies and senators.

The project that Lira submitted to the working group was presented to the Chamber in 1991. In the previous legislature, a special committee was tasked with analyzing the text. The committee approved a substitute bill that could have moved forward in the plenary session, but it remained shelved. The current group expects to start from the report made by the previous committee, which concluded its work in 2016. ( O Liberal – PA)