VIE 29 DE MARZO DE 2024 - 11:15hs.
Deputy Bacelar (PODEMOS - BA)

"I will present a project transforming jogo do bicho into intangible heritage in Brazil"

In an interview with A Tarde newspaper, deputy Bacelar talks about how gaming legalization, especially the local popular ‘jogo do bicho’, could leverage the economy of Brazil, in addition to granting labor rights to the 450 thousand employees who are working without a formal contract. He points out that developed countries tend to regularize gaming and that 300 thousand Brazilians go to Uruguay, Argentina and Portugal to be able to bet. 'All of these are resources that are going away, and that hypothesis of addiction is 1%,” he argues.

The deputy from PODEMOS (BA) party recalled that he lives in a country that has 14 million unemployed and “has not had growth in the economy for more than 20 years.” For him, the inclusion of gaming in a regularized manner would be a strategic way to take the Brazil from the hole.

"How can such a country give up an economic segment that will generate R$ 20 billion in taxes, which will regularize 450 thousand workers in the ‘jogo do bicho’ segment?. Currently, this game has 450 thousand people in Brazil who don’t have INSS, FGTS, they don’t have any bonus, any guarantee. So there is no economic argument that defends the non-legalization of gaming,” he says.

According to Bacelar, there are only two options: legal or illegal. “The non-game hypothesis does not exist. In all societies there is gaming and in no developed country, whether from a social, economic or political point of view, it is prohibited.” Places that tend not to legalize have religion as their main argument.

“Today, in Brazil, online gaming move R$ 3 billion a year, without security and without taxes on that. 300,000 Brazilians leave Brazil every year to play in Uruguay, Argentina and Portugal. All of these are resources that are going away, and this hypothesis of addiction, ludopathy, which is the disease of addiction to gambling, is 1%. Alcoholism is 10%, and nobody talks about ending the sale of alcohol. So, they are arguments that cannot be sustained. The control that we have today for electronic gaming can already prevent an addict from entering the casino,” warns Bacelar.

“The President of the Chamber, Rodrigo Maia, implies that he is in favor of legalizing casinos, but I cannot accept that. I cannot accept opening the Brazilian market to an American businessman, to big international capital, and not legalizing, for example, the jogo do bicho, which is a genuinely national product,” he defends.

He says that jogo do bicho is on any corner of cities like Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, that there is no turning a blind eye to it. "I'm going to present a project, including, transforming it into intangible heritage of the Brazilian people." For Bacelar, neither the State nor religion should dictate what each one does in their free time and how they spend their money. “With my free time, I can read, I can see a Bahia game, I can go to the beach, I can sleep, I can do nothing and I can play. It is not for the State, nor for religion to discipline this matter,” he argues.

Another point highlighted by the deputy is to leave gaming in the hands of the militias, covering crime. “If we do not legalize the activity, we are handing it over to the militias and the traffic. What is already happening on a small scale in Rio de Janeiro. We have to bring it to the sunlight, to the daylight.”

According to Bacelar, a survey by Congress found that 55% of federal deputies are in favor of legalization. He is still positive about it. "The proposal is ready to be guided and, for sure, soon, the activity will be legalized in Brazil."

Source: GMB/ A Tarde