GMB - What is your assessment of the BgC panel of legislators in which you participated as speaker?
Senator Roberto Rocha - I think it was interesting for us to share experiences and information. We have a bill that passes through the Senate, there are other bills and we are trying to build a text that can be approved both in the Senate and in the House and be sanctioned so that society can absorb well. I think it's important to always listen to the market, the operators in the area and we leave here with a broader idea of what the resort casino is.
During the panel, you talked a lot about the importance of casinos for international tourism and the increase of visitors coming to Brazil. On the other hand, your project also contemplates domestic tourism, the Brazilians who are going out to play in other countries…
Yes, sure. We have millions of Brazilians who travel abroad and spend millions of dollars right here in South America. As we have properly regulated casinos here in Brazil, these Brazilians will not have to go outside anymore; they will have the chance to play here. And the integrated casinos are not just gaming, there are several other events. All the integrated resorts have event centers to offer many other attractions.
During the BgC a lot was talked about the importance of the approval and participation of the public opinion so that it is possible to legalize the activity in Brazil. What is the role of parliamentarians -senators and deputies- in this work of convincing the population?
I think that just looking at the numbers. We have 193 countries recognized by the UN and only 37 have no casinos. In South America, I thought it was only Brazil, but now I have discovered that Ecuador has no, that is, countries that until recently were undemocratic. Because there are governments that do not want to take care of, but control people. We think that the population has to be able to have its own work, its own job, and this is done with a business environment giving legal security, incentive and investments. And Brazil, I have already said, has enormous potential to grow in tourism policy and a good option are integrated resorts.
What is your plan for the processing and voting of your project at the national Congress? We're going to vote for it in the Senate this year; I'm not sure how it'll stay in the Chamber. But beyond the legislative process, we have dialogued with the President of the republic and the ministers to see if we can shorten the path. Perhaps the government decides to take a provisional measure to shorten the path and make it possible that Brazil can still have casinos inside resorts even this year.
Do you intend to make some interconnection, a possible joining of your project with PL's 442/91 of the Chamber of Deputies; and 186/2014 of the Senate, which are also pending and awaiting congressional approval?
You saw on the panel Deputy Evandro Roman saying that in Paraná state you cannot hear the word bingo because it sounds very bad. I also see that there is a lot of talk about gambling, if you look at my project it does not deal with this expression because I think all these are clichés that leads people to reject projects. I made a point of saying that Austria is a country that has a lot of casino gambling, and who owns the casinos are first the Government and then the Catholic Church. In such a way that I think that gaming, being well done, well regulated, well controlled, can be a good opportunity, a good economic activity to generate employment and income here in Brazil.
Source: Exclusive GMB
