At the House, there is already a project ready for voting in plenary, by Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI), which allows the exploration of gambling both online and land-based. Nogueira's project includes the legalization of casinos in integrated leisure complexes.
Now, Senator Ângelo Coronel (PSD-BA), who is the rapporteur of another project on the topic, authored by Senator Roberto Rocha (PSDB-MA), defends that part of the taxes collected with the gaming system can be used to fund the government's new social income program.
Coronel's idea is to include, in addition to casinos, other more immediate modalities such as bingos, slot machines and even the ‘jogo do bicho’. According to the senator, the legalization of the activity that demand a smaller structure for operation could generate, in the short term, an income to the government of R$ 50 billion (US$8,9b) per year.
At Rocha's request, the two projects will proceed together, in an attempt to speed up the vote on the proposal. The single report will be left to Colonel.
“The immediate money to the public coffers would be through bingo, slot machine games and jogo do bicho. There we can have a more immediate recipe. Casino takes longer because it needs more structure. This would be a way out to solve the lack of resources in the short and long term,” says the senator.
According to Colonel's numbers, the legalization of the activity could also generate around 700 thousand direct jobs and another 600 thousand indirect ones.
To finance the ‘Renda Cidadã’ (Citizen Income), the team of President Jair Bolsonaro seeks an extra R$ 20 billion (US$3.6b) in the budget. The government estimates that 8 million people should be left without assistance at the beginning of the year, if the program is not created.
With this amount, the idea is to expand the coverage of income transfers to families in the line of poverty and extreme poverty, in addition to increasing the value of the monthly benefit. It is precisely in this argument that Colonel hopes to get government support.
The senator's report is expected to be finalized in early November, when he plans to hand the proposal over to the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes.
The two have already talked informally about the issue and, although it considered controversial, Colonel believes he can get government support for the vote.
“Paulo Guedes said that my idea was bold, but he was nice. The only solution to have money for income is this [legalization of the gaming sector]. As it is, you are not afraid. With the R$50 billion (US$8,9b) we could have more people and reach R$ 300 (US$55) per person, as the government wants,” he says.
Bolsonaro's team faces difficulties in overcoming obstacles to the expansion of Bolsa Família program because of the lock on the spending ceiling. The government's idea is to include the creation of the new program in the text of PEC 186, known as PEC Emergencial.
The PEC rapporteur is Senator Márcio Bittar (MDB-AC), who has not yet received the Colonel's proposal.
For the PSDB leader in the Senate, Izalci Lucas (DF), the proposal needs a wide discussion before being put to a vote. In the analysis of the parlamentarian, the release of games of chance can create an extra cost in the areas of safety and public health.
“This discussion has been in Congress for about five years, but there are still a lot of people resisting. I am still not convinced that this is the way. We need to know the impact of this on health and safety,” he said.
Source: Iara Lemos/Folha do Sao Paulo
