During a trip to Europe, the former mayor of Maricá (RJ) and elected federal deputy, Washington Luiz Cardoso Siqueira, known as Washington Quaquá, stated that he will act in Brasília (DF) to allow the installation of a casino in the municipality.
According to the website MaricaInfo, the politician recorded a video in front of the stand of Embratur and MARAEY (Projeto do Resort na Restinga de Maricá), emphasizing that “I will even fight a lot there in Brasília so that we can even have a casino in Maricá, that I defend the legalization of gambling and casinos as an element of financing culture, financing handicrafts, in short, job creation (…)”.
This stance by Quaquá suggesting the construction of a casino in the city of Rio de Janeiro based on the legalization of gambling in Brazil is not new. In the 2018 election campaign, the former mayor said at a rally that a group from Las Vegas, in the United States, was interested in investing in the construction of a casino in Maricá.
It is important to emphasize that gambling has been prohibited in the national territory since 1946. At the time, Brazil had more than 70 casinos, which generated approximately 60,000 direct and indirect jobs. Currently, this number could be even higher, taking into account the increase in population and the country’s own tourism sector.
Bill that releases casinos in Brazil was approved in the Chamber of Deputies in 2022
At the beginning of last year, the Chamber of Deputies approved the bill that provides for the creation of the Legal Framework for Gambling in Brazil. The proposal legalizes various types of games, such as casinos integrated into the resorts, jogo do bicho, slot machines, video bingo, among others. The proposal went to the Senate and its processing has been stagnant since then.
