It was disclosed in the press, through the website of the magazine Época, after the launch of the Parliamentary Front to approve the Regulatory Framework of Gaming in Brazil, that you’d be part of the evangelical bench in the Chamber of Deputies, a sector opposed to gambling. Could you explain your connection to the evangelical group?
Regarding my connection with the evangelical group, I am even very honored. I respect all religions, all beliefs, I have an excellent coexistence with all of them. I am a Catholic of origin and formation, in my
house I have my wife who is Catholic and my daughter who is evangelical and I live very well with both. So, there is no difficulty. I am in a party, which is the PRB, which was initially worked by the Universal Church; in the party today we are 22 parliamentarians, 9 are from the Universal Church, 13 are not. Therefore, I can not say that I am of the evangelical group, but I vote with them even because this concept of family, of being against abortion, of strengthening the family, of being against this ideology of gender that they are wanting to apply in Brazil; I commune with this independent formation of being from the evangelical stand or not because I think that all those who are Christians seek to strengthen the family. So I guess this has no difficulty at all. The theme was discussed within the party and I am a person who works in dialogue. I have talked a lot with all my peers, with the leadership of the party, including our staff met in relation to the vote in plenary on this project the president and the party leader has already secured us in a bench meeting that will leave the
bench . So everyone is free to vote the way they want.
Although your party, the PRB, decides to release its parliamentarians to vote according to their convictions, do you believe that religion will be an argument widely used by those who oppose the regulation of gaming?
We feel that yes, some claim that. But religion, churches, especially evangelicals, they preach much to their faithful not to use alcohol, and the alcoholic beverage exists and is regulated in the country. They also preach to them not to use tobacco, but, smoking exists in Brazil and is regulated. So they will also preach to people not to play and I think it is correct. Play whoever wants to play, nobody is forced to do it. When we approve the regulation of the activity in Brazil does not mean that all Brazilians are forced to play, this is very free. I think this is going to be a theme, but I think the most they will argue against the regulation of gaming is gambling addiction and money laundering.
As you mention,
gamling addiction and money laundering are the main arguments raised by opponents of legalization to point out that the industry can do harm to the country. What is your opinion on these points of view and what are the arguments against them?
Ludopathy is a disease of psychic origin that makes a person as an addict that has no limits to gaming. 2% of the world's population suffers from
ludopathy. So, as in
Brazil we have 200 million inhabitants, we have 4 million addicts. The best way to handle the situation is because the person that wants to enter a casino to play has to be registered, to have a card that has a limit that it can spend according to the salary. This is legal gaming. The family can go to the casinos and ban the entrance, show that he is sick, and the casino will not accept him. Now the bad side
are the
ilegal casinos, where people play with no restrictions sometimes with
risk of bankruptcy as the house
accept in the bet the document of the car, the deed of the house, or things like that.
So, the best way to fight
ludopathy is regulating the activity. And money laundering will not be an issue because the IRS will be inside the casinos with the COAF regulating and collecting at the moment of the bets the taxes for the country. In South America, only Brazil and Bolivia have no regulated gaming and in the
world there are more than 170 countries with the activity regulated. And everyone is satisfied and getting well. I think this is a good project, that will be positive for Brazil and Brazilians. I would like to make it very clear: I never played, I do not play and I do not intend to play, but I strongly defend the regulation of gaming in the country. Because I prefer that we have gaming where whoever wants to play pay the tax rather than the Brazilian people have to support new taxes to sanitize the government accounts. The government does not have to increase the tax burden, it has to create new activities and has to receive tax from those who do not pay. Gaming in Brazil exists and does not pay tax. By regulating, we want it to contribute to the government budget.
The expectation now is that PL 442/91 will be voted in plenary in the last quarter and we will have a law by the end of the year. In your opinion, what has the country lost so far without the passage of the law?
We are losing a lot of money with this, money that could be solving various problems in Brazil, including social problems. We're letting this go down the drain. Brazilian companies located in Uruguay,
Argentina and Paraguay are controlling the online gaming in Brazil. We all know there is a clandestine activity. Bingo, casinos, machines,
jogo do
bicho, everyone knows they exist, but do not pay a penny of tax, the government does not collect anything. So, we do not want to bring games of chance to Brazil as some mean out there; we are trying to legalize what exists. Brazil needs to stop this conversation that it does not want legalized gambling, but it tolerates illegal gambling.
What is your analysis
about the potential of the Brazilian gaming market in relation to job creation, tax collection, promotion of tourism and other investments that could be made?
Our expectation is that gaming will bring a collection of US$ 5.7 billion a year to Brazil, three times more than this damn gasoline tax that was created that the Brazilian people have almost gone crazy with and will bring US$ 1.9 billion. The Brazilian auto industry collects US$ 1.4 billion per year, the beverage industry US$ 630 million, and the tobacco one US$ 1.25 billion. Gaming, alone, would raise US$ 57 billion, and Brazil is throwing that money away, leaving the Brazilians to play abroad and prevent foreign tourists from coming to Brazil. It is this mentality that we have to change. More than 1 million jobs will be generated, 500 thousand direct and 500 thousand indirect. Several economic activities: increase of the furniture industry, cleaning materials, restaurants, hotels. We're out there with a tremendous budget hole, struggling with
collection and letting illegal gaming go on without collecting any penny.
Currently, in Brazil, the most popular form of legalized gambling are lotteries that have the exclusive exploitation of Caixa Econômica Federal. What is your opinion about the state bank's work with lotteries? What can change in the process of lotteries after gaming legalization?
The Jewish Economic Bank of the Brazilian people. It is, worldwide, the one that has the lowest rate of return in prizes. In the whole
world the return of the money raised in prizes is around 60 to 65%, Caixa Econômica's range varies between 45 and 55. That is why we defend the state lotteries and in this report of the Commission of the Regulatory Framework of Gaming that is ready and going to plenary, is contemplating the state lotteries. With that damn decree of more than 70 years ago, only 4 Brazilian states maintained their state lotteries. Why
can not states have a fundraiser to contribute to and overcome their difficulties? So, Caixa Econômica Federal collects a lot. To give you an idea: today, 2.7% goes to finance the sport, through the Brazilian Olympic Committee of the Federations.And Caixa, as an administration fee, receives 5%, twice what it finances the Brazilian sport. This is a joke, right? So, we need to regulate this.
Returning to the state lotteries, as mentioned above, you have already defended the creation of a Lottery for the State of Tocantins. What is your assessment of the timing of state lotteries and their importance to regional economies?
I defended the state lottery for
Tocantins as I will defend for the whole of Brazil, it is necessary. States also need to have their collection. This revenue source from the state lotteries can go to finance or public safety, or health, or sport, or social action; every government, every state that decides its destiny. Now, what is wrong is that Caixa Económica controls everything. The federal government
have everything in hand and the states and municipalities dying there with
low collection. So, I think this should be extended to all states and municipalities and the state lottery is something that will do very well for each Brazilian state. It will give them more autonomy.
The Ministry of Finance is working on the privatization of LOTEX for this year. What is your opinion about the importance of LOTEX and what is your expectation for its operation after the conclusion of the process?
LOTEX has this expectation of 1 billion reais (US$ 315 million), it’s ok. This is a way they managed to raise money faster, but, having a text legalizing all the activities, all types of games, attending to all the followings, is also something good.
Ww know that there are international companies wanting to invest in Brazil ... groups fromLas Vegas, Casino Estoril - one of the most famous in the world in Portugal-, everyone has come to Brazil eager to install gaming and invest here. We need to show that Brazil
can not be afraid of this, Brazil will not want to be the only country in the world that does not have gaming legalized.
Source: GMB Exclusive
