Rodrigo Maia will return as president of the Brazil House of Representatives with a 334-vote edge.
In 2018, Maia emerged as a strong supporter of well-regulated casinos in major cities including Rio de Janeiro and in São Paulo. In his view, according to Games Magazine Brasil, there will be little investor interest in the market if gambling is restricted to remote areas.
“We’ll talk with the deputies. Some politicians ask for bingo machines outside the casinos, but we want to introduce the project for casinos,” said Maia.
Other supporters of legal casinos in Brazil include Rio Governor Wilson Witzel, Rio Mayor Marcelo Crivella, Tourism Minister Marcelo Álvaro Antônio, and the governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema Neto.
Maia cited studies that indicate integrated resorts could created up to 300,000 jobs for Brazilians and reap as much as R$25 billion (US$ 6.85 billion) for the government. He estimates that Brazil could comfortably sustain as many as 32 casinos from coast to coast.
