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Brazil – Brazilian Association of Resorts pushes for casinos

By Phil - 17 October 2016

The importance of new casino legislation was highlighted as a priority in a meeting held earlier last week between the newly appointed Minster of Tourism Marx Beltrão and high ranking members of the Brazilian Association of Resorts (ABR).

The Minister said that new legislation currently being discussed in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate was being monitored very closely by the federal government.

New gaming laws were essential he said but needed revision as a number of different gaming categories were being discussed simultaneously in both houses. However, casinos would be a boost to tourism as it would create jobs, increase the number of tourists and “most importantly generate resources for the country,” he said. The minister took office this month after Henrique Alves resigned in June.

Following the meeting Luigi Rotunno, President of the Brazilian Association of Resorts (ABR) released an open letter to the new Minister of Tourism. In the letter Rotunno urges the government to pay more attention to the sector and highlighted how government polices in the past have consistently failed.

“Even with several past attempts to structure tourism as an important segment of the Brazilian economy, we must admit that we have had a series of failures. . .” he said. According to Rotunno, “ the reality is that Brazilian tourism has not taken off” due to a lack of long term planning. Even large events such as the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics this year has meant that the the arrival of foreign tourists has been “sporadic and limited to this type of event.” Rotunno pointed out that: “Shortly after the closing ceremonies of these great events, the frequency of visitors from other countries to Brazil seems to fall into oblivion.”

The ABR is firmly behind new gaming legislation. In April Rottuno argued that new laws would mean that Brazil could attract around 200,000 additional tourist per year and endorsed casinos as part of large scale resorts and hotels.

Gaming legislation in different forms is now making fast progress in both the House of Deputies and the Senate. The Brazilian Senate is scheduled to vote on whether it will legalise gaming later this week. According to the latest draft of the new act, casinos must be part of larger leisure complexes, with hotels and restaurants. There will be bidding processes for all casinos and licences will be valid for twenty years and may be renewed for an equal period.