JUE 28 DE MARZO DE 2024 - 12:41hs.
Brazil-US Chamber of Commerce in Washington

Maia says there is a majority to approve Brazilian gaming law in the first half

In Washington, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, said  that the Congress will be able to vote in the first semester of the year the project that regulates the operation of casinos in Brazil. 'I think there's a majority,' he said. Las Vegas Sands representative, Andy Abboud, told the congressman that the company and other large US companies are ready to invest 'billions' in casinos in the country.

The issue was addressed last week during Maia's meeting with members of the Brazil-US Chamber of Commerce in Washington. Las Vegas Sands representative, Andy Abboud, told the congressman that the company and other leading US companies are ready to invest "billion" in casinos in Brazil if there is an "appropriate regulatory environment."

Maia said there are three lobbies working in Congress: the one that supports bingos, the one that is in favor of gaming machines outside casinos, and the one that proposes the legalization of casinos to attract investments to the tourism sector. The president of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies commented he is in favor of the third alternative and defended restrictions to the previous ones. "These two other equations may, in theory, make unfeasible the most important one."

In his opinion, the eventual law for the sector should criminalize the activities that are not contemplated in its text. Maia mentioned the example of the local popular jogo do bicho, which today is a contravention and not a crime. The deputy commented that this activity can be regularized, but said that this is not the scenario that he’d prefer. If jogo do bicho is outlawed, it should be punished with tougher penalties, he said.

"Gaming by the gaming itself is not in Brazil's interest. Our interest is that the activity begins to generate investments in the tourism and entertainment chain," he said during the meeting at the Chamber of Commerce. He commented that the State negotiates with the Senate a consensus text, which could be voted together until mid-year.

Maia noted that every day 600,000 illegal gaming machines operate in Brazil. "We have a market today that finances organized crime, because it's all illegal." The deputy ruled out a bill to regulate gambling that was approved by the House Special Committee in 2016, arguing that it "mixes everything."

Source: GMB / Cláudia Trevisan, O Estado de S.Paulo