Legislation
Brazil – Legalising bingo and casinos would be ‘big mistake’ warns Brazilian Senator
By Phil - 5 June 2019
According to Brazil’s Senate news Agency a senator has come out strongly against legalising casinos and bingo halls.
Showing that opposition to any new pro gaming bill is still likely to meet resistance, during a session held this week Senator Eduardo Girão argued that legalised gambling could damage newly implemented anti-corruption measures.
“Brazil is experiencing a moment of cleansing, a moment when the net is closing in on money laundering, corruption and evasion. The liberalisation of gambling in Brazil opens up other windows in this regard, including those stated by the Federal Police and Public Prosecutor that shows that Brazil can not supervise the liberalisation of gambling,” he said. “The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office issued two technical notes for this case – no. 65, 2016, and no. 97, 2017 -, showing that gambling can be used for money laundering, both by entrepreneurs and gamblers. It underscores the immense difficulty in oversight and control, which may provide space for tax evasion and revenue evasion.”
His opinions are indeed in line with those that have been put forward in the past by the federal police and the Public Prosecutor’s office. The Prosecutor’s Office has argued that, rather than increasing tax revenue for the state the new gambling laws would lead to an increase in money laundering and tax evasion and the size of the industry would overwhelm supervisory bodies.
The Senator also questioned the argument that changes to gambling laws would generate jobs saying that jobs created by a newly regulated industry would only make up for losses in other sectors as Brazilians spent more money on gambling at the expense of other activities.
“The promise of institutes that work so that gambling is allowed in Brazil is that R$15bn annually of taxes would be collected per year in Brazil, which would generate jobs, which would generate income. This is the basic argument of people who want to allow gambling. But it’s a big mistake. Public economist Ricardo Gazel, who has already come to this House in public hearings to oppose gambling, has carried out studies in Brazil and abroad on this subject and shows that, quite the contrary, we are going to spend R$4.5bn if gaming is allowed in Brazil.” The senator argued that the money would be necessary to cover the costs of gambling addiction.
The senator concluded by saying that he hoped that “the people can work together to save Brazil from this big mistake, which would be allowing casinos and bingos.”
The senator’s statements come as there is a renewed push in Congress to open up the market. PLS 186/2014 resurfaced once again in April after the Senator responsible for drafting the first version of the bill resubmitted it for consideration before the full house. The bill is arguably the widest gaming expansion bill on the table as it would authorise the street lottery known as “the animal game”, casinos, bingo halls and betting nationwide.
