On March 7, the legalization of gambling and the reopening of casinos in the country was barred by the Commission for Constitution, Justice and Citizenship (CCJ). On that occasion, one of the two main opposition senators to the activity in Brazil was precisely Magno Malta, who concluded that "there are no motives or arguments that demonstrate that legalizing the exploitation of gambling in Brazil is a wise decision."
In the separate vote, unfortunately Malta warned of the particular vulnerability of older people to gambling and noted that countries that have released the activity face high costs because of problems and pathologies associated with gambling addiction. "The bill sells the false image of 'saving the economy', with the claim that legalizing will create jobs and bring about R$ 15 billion (US$3.9b) more tax a year to the public coffers. This number is fictitious, unreal."
Thanks to the convincing power of Malta and other senators, most of them were against the approval of the bill (PLS 186/2014) authorizing the exploitation of bingos, jogo do bicho, video game and other betting modalities.
On the other hand, who finally managed to keep his bank and that day was another of the most relevant voices that led the senators to reject the project of gaming legalization is Randolfe Rodrigues (Network / AP), who submitted separate votes for rejection of the matter.
Magno's party did not formally join the PSL candidate because there was no agreement on proportional coalitions. Even so, Malta said that his re-election was certain and during the campaign he made several out-of-state events to leverage Bolsonaro's candidacy.
Another senator from Capixaba was also defeated. Ricardo Ferraço (PSDB) was in fourth position, behind Magno. Besides the performance of Bolsonaro ally, the personal defeat of Malta at Espírito Santo state only has as consolation the election of his wife, Lauriete, as a federal deputy. She received 51,900 votes and was the penultimate of the 10 places.
Source: GMB
