Leaders of important center parties, such as Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and Mayor Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), are sympathetic to the proposal and try to build a majority to vote after the parliamentary recess.
Businessmen in the industry are running through deputy offices to convince them to vote in favor. And not just Brazilians: Representatives of American and Chinese companies that run casinos around the world help put pressure on parliamentarians.
Opposition against legalizing gaming, however, is strong and organized. The evangelical bench began collecting signatures to form a parliamentary front against gambling. The group gathers 198 deputies and has political strength within the House and also with the Executive.
To discourage the movement, evangelicals have told colleagues in the House that President Jair Bolsonaro would have already vowed to veto the bill if the text goes through the House. They claim that gambling facilitates money laundering.
As in the House, there are differences within the government. Part of the economic wing supports the creation of another source of revenue, but the ideological wing is against it.
Bolsonaro's allies say he agrees with some of the arguments for legalization, but faces resistance even from first-lady Michelle Bolsonaro - evangelical, she opposes the proposal. Historians have always stressed the influence of First Lady Carmela Dutra on President Eurico Gaspar Dutra's decision to ban gambling in Brazil in 1946.
Internal divergences
Another obstacle to the advancement of liberation is the divergence between the agenda's own defenders. One group argues that the ideal would be to legalize only casinos, as a more restrictive text would face less resistance. Another group advocate releasing all types of bets, including jogo do bicho, slot machines, video games and online gaming.
There is a bill that releases all gaming ready to be voted on in the House floor. In 2016, the Chamber installed a special committee and approved the report by Deputy Guilherme Mussi (PP-SP) that not only releases all forms of betting, but also amnesty accused of the practice of illegal gambling.
In the current legislature, advocates of the measure have formed a mixed parliamentary front to pressure Mayor Rodrigo Maia to guide Mussi's bill. The group has 203 parliamentarians and is chaired by Deputy João Carlos Bacelar (Somos-BA), who uses economic arguments to convince colleagues.
According to him, the activity already moves in an illegal way R$ 60 billion (US$ 14.5b) and, if legalized, could generate the collection of R$ 18 billion (US$ 4.35b) per year in taxes, in addition to 650,000 direct jobs and 600,000 indirect ones. “We are in financial crisis and we give up revenue by banning gaming,” says Bacelar. "And it is an innocuous ban, because the Brazilian plays the same way, only the jogo do bicho employs 450 thousand people."
Rep. Otoni de Paula (PSC-RJ), one of the leaders of evangelicals, in turn, says that the release of the activity would bring serious problems of public health and safety. “They claim that gambling would generate jobs and income, but that is only one side. They do not say that gambling brings prostitution and various other problems,” he says.
Evangelicals have an important ally: Federal Prosecutor. Whenever the issue comes into debate, the PGR opposes the regularization of betting, arguing that the measure would foster organized crime. “The bill that legalizes the widespread and indiscriminate exploitation of gambling in Brazil does not create effective control mechanisms for money laundering and tax evasion, but rather creates powerful new mechanisms for money laundering,” argued the PGR, in a 2017 technical note. At the time, the Senate debated a Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI) bill on gamblinig exploitation, which was eventually rejected by the CCJ.
Advocates in government
In Planalto, one of the main supporters of the measure is the president of the Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur), Gilson Machado. He has been meeting with lawmakers and is trying to raise awareness about the proposal.
The arguments are also economic. Gilson says casinos could triple the number of tourists in the country and that foreign groups have already shown interest in investing in the sector in the country. “There are few casino locations in the world. Brazil will attract the tourist who spends money,” said the president of Embratur, in an interview with the newspaper Folha de São Paulo.
Source: Matheus Teixeira - Vortex Media
