Legislation
Brazil – Pro-gaming presidential candidate receives support in Brazil
By Phil - 26 July 2018
The chances that business friendly presidential candidate and former Sao Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin could win the upcoming election in Brazil have risen considerably now that a coalition made up of a number of centrist parties have agreed to back him.
This is potentially good news for the gaming industry as Alckmin has been a long time supporter of liberalising the gaming market in Brazil.
The bloc is made up of the Progressive Party (PP), Democrats (DEM), Solidarity (SD), Brazilian Republican Party (PRB) and the Party of the Republic (PR) the head of one of the parties told Reuters on Friday. Reuters also reported that the real, and the Bovespa stock index both gained nearly 2 percent on Friday, as Alckmin’s chances increased. Alckmin has emerged unscathed by the Petrobras crisis, he has managed the strongest economy in the country for more than four years, and is a market favourite because his party the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) has supported President Michel Temer’s economic agenda. Temer has passed a number of pro-business reforms in hopes of attracting foreign investment and inspiring confidence in Brazil’s future.
Alckmin is currently in fourth place in the latest polls but the new coalition will mean greater political reach and the longest air time on TV in the three crucial months leading up to the October election.
On a number of occasions, Alckmin has come out for overturning the gaming ban as it has led to an increase in illegal gaming with many Brazilians turning to the internet to make a bet. In 2016, during remarks at an event sponsored by the Union of São Paulo Housing he said that liberalisation was the way forward for a wide number of reasons. “I support the legalisation of gaming, first because the games already exist. The biggest player is the federal government because it has lotteries of all kinds. Second, because in most countries of the world it is regulated. Not having it regulated, gives rise to corruption, it (gaming )operates clandestinely and the government receives no tax from it.”
He has also given his support for the legalisation of bingo. “The bingo halls can not continue to function in the way it functions today,” he said, during a lecture at the Brazilian Congress of Tourism Activities . Alckmin also pointed out that in São Paulo, there is a bingo house in each block functioning due the backing of court injunctions. “It’s a mess with the police,” he said. “It is better to have a good regulation than to leave it as it is. Today we have a completely grey area in terms of legislation and I am in favour of approving good regulation, “Alckmin concluded.
