“Games already exist”
In Brazil, pro-gaming presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin has won the support of a mix of Progressive, Democratic, Solidarity, Republican and Party of the Republic members.
According to Casino Review, the former Sao Paulo governor is currently fourth in the running. His platform will be pro-business and pro-gaming in the three month run-up to the October elections.
“I support the legalization of gaming,” said Alckmin in 2016. “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 operates clandestinely and the government receives no tax from it.”
Casino gaming has been banned in Brazil since 1942, but supporters see it as a way to help ease the economic morass in the country, where a three-year recession finally started to ease in 2017. U.S. casino giant Sheldon Adelson of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. has made multiple recent visits to Brazil and has pledged to invest billions in the market should casinos become legal.
