Megabingo Imperador opens amid legal impasse.

With 4,2 m2 and capacity to serve up to a thousand players simultaneously, Bingo Imperador began operating on Av. Sumaré, even without a definition of the laws that regulate this activity.
While the courts, the government, and Congress have yet to reach a conclusion on the legality of bingo halls, São Paulo yesterday inaugurated the largest one ever opened in the country. Currently, there is no regulation governing its operation. However, according to the Brazilian Bingo Association (Abrabin), there is also no law prohibiting its creation or classifying it as a misdemeanor. There are already 480 bingo halls in the state, with 250 in Greater São Paulo.
While the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office considers the activity illegal, the City Hall grants permits for new bingo halls. This is the case of Bingo Imperador, on Avenida Sumaré, in the west zone. Manager Vicente Tavares claims that all licenses are up to date. The bingo hall is considered the largest in the country. It has 4,2 square meters, with a 150-meter facade. Its capacity is to serve up to a thousand players simultaneously. It has 280 employees and is affiliated with the Tae Kwon Do Federation. The manager prefers not to reveal the estimated daily revenue.
In addition to the bingo hall (which has seven large screens for players to follow the calling of numbers), it has two rooms containing nearly 200 video bingo machines, which the manager assures are not slot machines. "We have a report from USP (University of São Paulo) to prove this," says Tavares.
According to prosecutor Gabriel Inelas, from the Auxiliary and Information Service of the State Attorney General's Office, bingo activity itself is not illegal. "What is illegal is the use of slot machines," warns the prosecutor. For the president of Abrabin, Olavo Sales da Silveira, bingo is "a legal activity, but unregulated."
“Bingo halls came into existence with the so-called Pelé Law. Bingo halls would allocate part of their revenue to a sports federation. This changed with the Maguito Law, which ordered the cancellation of the articles of the Pelé Law that regulated bingo halls,” explains Silveira. According to the president of Abrabin, the federal government has no interest in discussing the regulation of a new law, which is creating this impasse. Because of this, the association and non-affiliated bingo halls have resorted to the courts. “There are hundreds of lawsuits awaiting judgment to resolve the problem. We want a solution, but while it doesn't come, we prefer to continue working,” he states.
Due to changes in the Pelé Law, Caixa Econômica Federal (a Brazilian bank) stopped issuing permits for the creation of new bingo halls. As a result, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office deemed the activity illegal and requested that state public prosecutors monitor the case. According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, the bingo halls must cease to exist by the last day of this year. This is because Caixa Econômica Federal, in addition to not granting permits for bingo halls, will also not renew existing permits, which expire at the end of the year. Therefore, several bingo halls have been closed in recent months in actions by prosecutors and the police.
Thanks to court injunctions, bingo owners continue their businesses and are opening new ones. According to Silveira's estimate, there are currently around 1,2 bingo halls in the country. "We generate more than 100 jobs throughout the country," Silveira assures.

Owner assures that there are no slot machines.
The manager of the Imperador bingo hall, which opened yesterday on Avenida Sumaré, Vicente Tavares, hopes to reopen the establishment today at 11 am “and never close again.” The bingo owners want it to operate without interruption.
But these plans could fall through. Inspection teams from the Lapa Subprefecture will check today if the establishment has all the necessary permits. Next week, police officers from the State Department of Criminal Investigations (Deic) intend to shut down the bingo hall because of the slot machines operating there.
“We have all our licenses up to date and in order. The machines we have are video bingo machines, not slot machines, as technical reports prove,” says Tavares.
The operating license for the bingo hall was issued by the Department of Control of Property Use (Contru). According to the legislation, venues that hold gatherings of more than 100 people must have a license from Contru, not from the Subprefecture.
But the Lapa Subprefecture can order the closure of the establishment if it finds that the permits are not in order.
“We received praise from the firefighters. We are confident regarding our documentation,” says Tavares.
In addition to its 280 employees, the Imperador bingo hall will hire approximately 600 people from third-party companies. The parking lot, for example, which will have a capacity for 200 cars, will be managed by a company that plans to employ 28 valet parking attendants.
A team of aquarists was also hired to take care of a water feature of over 100 square meters, which will house up to 200 carp.
An Italian painter was hired to create two landscape murals for the walls of the bingo hall. Each mural is over 12 meters tall.
“We envisioned creating not just an entertainment venue, but a place where people can come to relax and leave their worries outside the bingo hall,” says Tavares. In addition to the prizes on the bingo cards, bingo patrons will be able to try their luck at the video bingo games. Besides the cash prizes, the bingo promises to raffle off a Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
The bingo hall belongs to businessman Jair da Ressurreição, who owns a chain of bingo halls in the city (Angélica, Villa Coutry and Francisco Matarazzo), and is also a partner in the Graal restaurant chain.
Averse to interviews, he prefers not to reveal how much he spent to build the bingo hall, which had a design signed by Evandro Andreoni. While the bingo hall was awaiting permits, Jair relied on the support of a special friend, state deputy Henrique Pacheco (PT).

Jornal da Tarde (SP) – Fernando Lancha