On Wednesday, the 23rd, the new Minister of Tourism, Celso Sabino, was in the Chamber of Deputies, to talk about priority agendas in his portfolio. Among them, the return of casino operations in Brazil may be one of the strong trends in its management.
To resume the debate on the regulation and legalization of casinos in Brazil with a view to encouraging tourism and the economy, the Ministry of Tourism promotes debates that encourage and promise to bring more elements so that Congress – especially the Senate – deals with the subject and votes on the PL 442/91.
This project discusses the regulatory framework for gambling in Brazil, as explained by Filipe Senna, partner at Jantalia Advogados and Master in Gaming Law.
“After the approval by the Chamber of Deputies of Bill 442/91, in February 2022, this bill was sent to the Senate to resume and finalize the debate on the regulation of casinos and other games in Brazil”, he explained.
“The trend is that the Ministry of Tourism, with the debates ready on the subject, provides more elements and more material for the Senate to deal with this subject and list an eventual approval of the bill”.
“Therefore, the idea of promoting debates by the Ministry of Tourism is exactly to contribute to the debate and leverage the bill before the Federal Senate”, he added.
Legalization of casinos in Brazil could generate 650,000 jobs
The legalization and regulation of casinos can bring excellent economic, social and development benefits in Brazil.
“First, casinos can represent a new source of revenue from a previously prohibited activity, transacted to a legalized activity, which can exactly increase revenue and generate new sources for the government, invest in social programs and other elements of need”, scored Senna.
Casinos can also represent a generation of formal jobs. It is estimated that legalization will create around 650,000 jobs in Brazil, in addition to raising approximately 20 billion reais a year.
History of casinos and games on Brazilian soil
The end of the 1930s and the beginning of the 1940s represented the golden years of casinos in Brazil, in which several of these establishments were located in national tourist cities and moved large artistic shows and many people and tourists to these places.
Casinos earned very well and, in the 1946 primary election, there was a huge debate between Marechal Eurico Gaspar Dutra, who said he was a supporter of the activity, and his more conservative opponent.
The industry ended up encouraging and making donations to Marechal Eurico Gaspar Dutra in order to encourage and prevail this activity in the national territory.
However, in 1946, overnight, Marechal Eurico Gaspar Dutra issued a decree-law that prohibited the operation of casinos in national territory. Since then, casinos have had no more opportunities to operate in the national territory.
This debate returns exactly with PL 442/91, also with the amendments that provided the idea of operating casinos in integrated leisure complexes.
This debate prevails and was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in February 2022, and currently depends on the appreciation of the Federal Senate.
