Caesars, Sands both looked at the market
Last Wednesday, Brazil’s Comisión de Constitución, Justicia y Ciudadanía voted 13-2 to reject PLS 186/2014, a bill that would have legalized casino gaming, online gaming, sports betting, bingo halls and the popular game jogo do bicho.
The bill was introduced by Senator Ciro Noguiera in 2014 and later amended by Senator Benedito de Lira. The bill stalled in the pipeline several times in 2017 before meeting with defeat on March 7.
Opponents of the bill said such a vast expansion of gaming would hit the poorest the hardest and therefore objected. Noguiera and de Lira vowed to crack down on black-market operators if the bill was passed.
Though the bill was voted down, it could be revived in the National Congress and voted in a plenary meeting, though that would require a senator to file a motion for review.
A second bill coming from the Brazil Ministry of Tourism would permit the legalization of land-based integrated resorts only. The ministry hopes that such a move would increase the number of tourists and MICE business in the country.
According to Games Magazine Brazil, three representatives of U.S.-based gaming operator Caesars Entertainment recently met with Mansueto de Almeida of the Ministry of Finance and other Brazilian officials to present an integrated resort project. André Feldman, Caesars man in Brazil, told the magazine, “There must be legislation across the market with joint support of the entire industry for it to succeed. We have to be united.”
Last year Sheldon Adelson visited Brazil to pitch an $8 billion casino resort to President Michael Temer. As the world’s fifth-largest country with a population of more than 200 million people, Brazil has been seen as a gaming market that could rival Las Vegas and Macau.
