Bill would also permit online gaming
Legislation that could bring up to 35 casinos to Brazil was passed on the first vote by the Senate Special Commission on National Development last week.
The bill, which would also legalize internet gaming, passed 8-2 with one member abstaining. The legislation is sweeping in scope, and could result in a casino in every state, with up to three in the larger states, reports CardPlayer.com.
The legislation coincides with tough economic times in the South American country. The Brazilian economy is expected to contract 3.5 percent this year, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Could gaming help? Casino boosters think so; based on a 30 percent tax rate, they say, the industry could generate $5.9 billion a year for the government.
Though Brazil banned casinos nearly 70 years ago, it has an active lottery that was established in the 1780s. It also permits bingo parlors, a horse betting industry and allows major live tournaments to be held in poker associations.
Brazilian Senator Ciro Nogueira authored the bill, which would put casinos inside hotel complexes and offer license terms of 30 years. The bill also includes a provision for bingo, or “jogo de bicho,” and states that cities can have one bingo hall for every 250,000 residents, and each venue can have as many as 50 electronic bingo machines. Senate President Renan Calheiros supports the legislation, known as the “Brazil Agenda,” according to PokerNews.com. The full senate must OK the bill along with Brazil’s lower house and President Dilma Rousseff.
Last summer Rousseff vetoed a bill passed by Congress that would have introduced legalized fixed-odd sports betting in the country. She also passed legislation that cracks down on players who utilize use offshore gaming sites and can fine them £400 to £40,000 for playing on those sites. Though she is no advocate of gaming, the president is a realist, reported the website, which said “close associates” of the president say her administration is willing to establish the new industry in hopes of stoking tourism, adding investment and creating a much-needed new revenue stream.
According to Casino.org, in 2014, when the country hosted the World Cup, the month-long sports event generated an estimated $130 billion in “legal and illegal bets” around the world, of which Brazil realized “zero dollars.”
The bill now heads to the senate general assembly. If it passes there, it will head to the House of Representatives and finally President Rousseff.
Moody’s Investors Service recently downgraded Brazil to junk status citing a tanking economy and “worsening governability.”
In spite of the need for new revenues, industry and taxes in the country, and even though millions of Brazilians are already thought to be gambling, Reuters reports that the activity is not favored by many in the mainstream population.
“You talk about gaming and people think about fraud, money laundering, mafia and addiction,” Sao Paulo lawyer Luiz Felipe Maia told the news agency.
