During the interview on Radio 98 show, Azevedo recalled the Palace Casino (Poços de Caldas), the Grande Hotel e Termas (Araxá), the Hotel Glória (Caxambu), the Casino da Pampulha (Belo Horizonte), the Casino do Lago (Lambari) and the Hotel Brasil (São Lourenço) which were the main French-style casinos in the state of Minas Gerais at a time of great splendor.
Casinos had golden times in Brazil until 1946, when then President Eurico Gaspar Dutra decided to ban the activity in the country. The end of roulettes has led several luxury hotels to bankruptcy, in addition to generating a huge wave of unemployment. In Minas, some traditional hotels suffered from the end of casinos and the locals, which previously attracted celebrities and politicians, had to adapt to a new reality.
The councilman ensures that the Pampulha building, which today is a museum, is in very good condition. “It's a sadness to see it, with parts of that place falling down. Pampulha must become an urgent casino to attract tourism, musical shows and gastronomy, including a clear lagoon for nautical sports. In 1943 the city showed all its capacity to be a global environment that generates beauty and is attractive to visitors. We were an example of modern architecture with people from all over the world who used to travel to visit it.”
The radio show's commentator, Paul Leite, also opined in favor of the reopening of casinos. “The great question of the Grande Hotel de Araxá is that, even if it is revitalized for tourism, if there is the vocation for a hotel and the casino. It has many halls and a great structure assembled but that is not potentially used because casinos cannot exist. The same when you talk about Hotel Glória (Caxambu). Unfortunately, we can no longer say the same thing about São Lourenço, because the hotels that used to focus on the casino structure, went bankrupt, do not have the same structure today as they used to,” explained the journalist.
For Leite, “the legalization of casinos is not just the return of gaming. It means entertainment, tourism, heating the economy, remembering that Brazil still has a very small portion of its gross domestic product destined for the coming of tourism. If you take to Spain, 15 to 20% of the gross domestic product of that country comes from tourism, and Brazil does not know how to save something, not even close to 6% of its GDP.”
The councilman assured that in Brazil there is a great hypocrisy: “Caixa already promotes lotteries, don’t we have a game of chance there? And our politicians oppose legalization, but they cross the border to neighboring countries and play there. The mayor of Belo Horizonte goes to play to Foz de Iguazu. Then there is a huge hypocrisy. I had my bachelor party in Las Vegas and travel together with friends. I never gambled but I took the opportunity to see shows and other attractions that casinos offered me. No one is forced to play."
“I am in favor of the re-opening of casinos in Brazil as a way to generate jobs that help to come out of this crisis in the wake of the pandemic. I think that this issue has to be on the agenda, while I repudiate this silly moralism of Minister Damares and others who think that Brazil must be conservative. It is not and will not be,” concluded Azevedo.
Source: GMB
