GMB - What is your position regarding the legalization of casinos in Brazil? And what about the rest of gambling?
Hugo Veiga - I am in favor of a casino clearance and legalization, but with restrictions and specific legislation to combat problems, such as possible money laundering. I also believe that there must be a limited number of these enterprises per state or region of the country.
I am also in favor of legalizing other gambling modalities, such as poker and baccarat, but with even more care and legislation. Especially because we know that these activities, like the jogo do bicho, already happen freely in several cities of Brazil. That's why I think it's even hypocritical to ban casinos in the country.
Paraguay, Uruguay and other neighboring countries have casinos, have never banned them and are still active today. And this is one of the reasons why Brazil watches “from cabin” countries like Peru and Argentina having more expressive performance in tourism.
In your opinion, should only resort casinos be allowed or do you think there may be physical casinos independent major hotels?
I do not believe they should be allowed only in resorts. Most importantly, they should exist in a limited number and with specific legislation to support this activity.
Where could casinos be installed in your state? Do you believe it would be positive for Maranhão?
Here in Maranhão we have three tourism-inducing centers: São Luís, Chapada das Mesas and Lençóis Maranhenses, which could be enhanced by the installation of casinos. I also believe that Barreirinha could have a casino as well as some other southern city.
Having a casino in one of our areas of tourist interest would add a complementary offer and an interesting flow of a tourist that spends a high average ticket and would obviously improve our production chain.
What is the position of most of your fellow tourism secretaries from other states on the subject of casinos in Brazil?
We had a meeting of Conotel (National Hotels Congress), which was held in May this year in Goiânia and was attended by the tourism minister Marcelo Álvaro, the then president of Embratur, Leonidas de Oliveira, and much of the secretariat of the Brazil. At this event, we delivered a letter to the authorities outlining the barriers to tourism, including a ban on casinos. In the document we ask for the legalization of these ventures, provided they exist in limited numbers by region or state and specific legislation that supports the activity.
Have you been following what happens in the Chambers of Deputies and Senators with the gambling legalization laws? Do you believe there will be news this year about this?
Yes, I have been following, but I believe there is still a lot of taboo on the discussion of this topic. I agree that it is not an easy subject, it is complex and involves a lot of care for its progress. There may be more emergency issues to be discussed in Congress at the moment, but I hope this project will mature, be voted on and that we will have a responsible release of this kind of tourism activity in Brazil.
Have you considered traveling to Las Vegas or some other city to analyze the economic benefits of casinos for the state?
We are interested in benchmarking, but it is no use traveling to other cities in other countries to track these activities while release is being held here. So, when we realize that we are closer to a vote and have specific legislation, we will schedule these visits.
Source: Exclusive Games Magazine Brasil
