For tourism recovery, attraction and entertainment are fundamental pillars for the sector. This is one of the positions of the Minister of Tourism, Marcelo Álvaro Antônio, in an exclusive interview this Thursday afternoon (20) to ‘Live do Tempo’. He further explained that the new coronavirus pandemic has paralyzed any discussions on the subject.
"This is a project that is being develop by the Ministry of Tourism to be presented to the president," he said. According to the minister, the idea is to authorize casinos in resorts, mainly in the Northeast, in the way that the main lobbyists in the sector defend.
The Tourism Minister was very clear in explaining that the legalization of gambling is not an official policy of President Jair Bolsonaro's government, but that he is developing a project on the viability of casinos within resorts for later presentation to Congress.
“I would like to clarify that this is not a government policy. This is a project that is being built by the Ministry of Tourism to be presented to the president. Obviously, analyzing themes such as money laundering and foreign currency evasion that surround the subject. In tourism, we need to invest in attraction, which will be fundamental for the resumption of the activity. And to use resorts, which are large complexes, casinos could be integrated within that venues,” explained the minister.
“We do not defend the legalization of games of chance, bingo, slots. What we defend are casinos integrated into the resorts, which occupy about 3% to 5% of the complex, helping to subsidize the resort fees. That is the idea,” added Marcelo Álvaro Antônio.
He also said that he intended to develop a new project. “I wouldn't speak about just a casino. I would talk about casinos integrated with resorts, where people who can hire a tour package will have access to vacation at that resort. This will preserve the bulk of the Brazilian population from having access to the machines.”
In January of this year, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro traveled to Las Vegas to meet with directors of casinos in the United States. Jair Bolsonaro obviously knew about the trip and the agenda: Flávio travelled as senator of the Republic to "deal with tourism and casinos."
President Bolsonaro is being convinced by Centrão leaders and his son Flávio to change his mind. At the end of 2019, the president met with a group of parliamentarians - led by deputies Elmar Nascimento (DEM) and Paulinho da Força (Solidariedade) - that defends the legalization of gaming and is moving to put the matter to vote this year in the Congress.
In reserve, the president has made it clear that he is more flexible in his position, even defending that each state could establish its rules on the subject.
Source: GMB
