Legalização dos cassinos
Foto: Agência Senado / Divulgação

Senator Margareth Buzetti (PSD) recently declared her support for the legalization of casinos in Brazil. But the senator made a point of highlighting that the mandatory use of a credit card was imposed.

According to the senator, this measure can help prevent the practice of money laundering.

Next steps after casinos were approved by the CCJ

This debate came shortly after the approval of the legalization of casinos by the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Senate (Bill 2,234/2022). This project:

  • Authorizes the operation of casinos and bingos in Brazil
  • Legalize the Jogo do Bicho 
  • Allows betting on horse races

“Look, I have some restrictions on bingo, but the casino doesn’t, because you can only do it with a credit card. Because then the person spends and cannot launder money. She will pay taxes on this, she cannot launder money”, defended the parliamentarian.

Approval in the CCJ was with a tight score (14 votes in favor and 12 against). But now the project now goes to the Senate Board of Directors, which will determine a new date for the topic to be debated in plenary.

This is the last step to be delivered to President Lula, as the project has been approved by the Chamber of Deputies.

Proponents of the project believe that the release of casinos and betting games in Brazil could attract investments of more than R$100 billion

In addition, they can generate around 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs and increase annual revenue by R$22 billion. This money would benefit municipalities, states and the Union.

Controversies and opposing positions

The biggest resistance from parliamentarians is that the legalization of casinos and gambling could encourage addiction and promote criminal activities such as money laundering.

But the project establishes specific rules for different types of games, including limits for the installation of casinos, bingos and Jogo do Bicho.

If there is this limit, this facilitates inspection by the authorities. However, Senator Margareth Buzetti remains against the legalization of bingo, her biggest resistance to this type of game is that it can be difficult to control the flow of money.

“But if one thing happens, everything will happen. So you can’t separate it. For example, I was against electronic games. I think this is absurd for our youth. But it passed, right? It’s democracy, the majority wins”, concluded senator Margareth Buzetti.