São Paulo has a long history related to the presence of casinos and gaming houses. And we are not talking about clandestine venues, but about historic, high-quality places precedent to President Dutra's 1946 ban.
In the hillside of São João, region that would later originate the avenue of the same name, Cassino Paulista functioned, that was demolished in 1914. If this space had characteristics closer to a French-style cabaret, Santos had a casino in the modern style: Monte Serrat.
In the lower Santos there were other establishments of the same type, such as the Atlantic and Parque Balneários, also in Santos, the Grande Hotel La Plage in Guarujá; or the casino of Porchat Island in São Vicente.
Despite having the opposition of the evangelical group, the legalization movement seems unstoppable. The only thing to define in São Paulo is where people will play roulette or baccarat in the future.
Will some of the old spaces be recovered? It seems that new venues will appear, adapted to the requirements of the 21st century.
INVESTORS GET READY
The political movement that is taking place now has been discussed in previous years. In a way that several entrepreneurs and investors soon began preparing for the moment in which the legalization was approved. Admittedly, this is like a green flag at the start of a race: if they are not ready to speed as soon as the race starts, they will soon be behind.
Opponents of legalization will surely say that this movement is the result of economic pressures, but it is easy to see that it is a moral and ideological question that goes far beyond this easy explanation.
Easy, in fact, is to understand how gaming can split society, especially at a time when it is easy to access online casinos or sports betting sites such as Redbet. The capacity of the ban is much reduced and arises the option of change it with regulation.
As early as 2016, local media Estadão reported that Las Vegas businessmen had been studying locations to install a casino in São Paulo soon after the release of the activity, and that Anhembi was a possibility.
In the case of Silvio Santos, the investment is so old that it can only be said that he prepared everything for the possibility of legalization. According to O Dia, the resort designed by Silvio Santos in 1998 already came with everything for that moment: shopping mall, sports courts, restaurants and an arena with capacity for 5000 people that can be covered, turning into a casino. His partner in that investment was precisely a Las Vegas entrepreneur.
Source: GMB / São Paulo Antiga
