The amendment deals with the legalization of casinos in resorts and bingos in football stadiums with a capacity of more than 15 thousand places. In the first moment approval is difficult because the theme even divides the clubs interested in the project.
The president of Flamengo, for example, argues that the amendment should be changed to prioritize clubs that have at least five Olympic modalities. This is precisely the case of Flamengo. Clubs with less structure, such as Vila Nova-GO, think that this requirement will benefit only the more importante institutions. Others, who do not have a particular stadium with structure to house a bingo hall, want to include in the text the release to exploit the service in social venues.
Cruzeiro was one of the clubs invited to attend a meeting this week in the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia, attended by Andrés Sanchez, author of the amendment, by federal deputy Vicente Cândido (PT-SP) and the president of the Flamengo, Eduardo Bandeira de Mello.
When consulted, the president of Cruzeiro, Wagner Pires de Sá, was in favor of the amendment, although the club plays its games in Mineirão, state of Minas Gerais state that is managed by a concessionaire, Minas Arena. The club has a partnership agreement with the operator to use the stadium until 2037.
In audio of the meeting in the Chamber, obtained by the news site Superesportes, Wagner has called for a change in the amendment just to allow clubs like Cruzeiro, which do not have the stadium itself, to also benefit from the proposal, if approved.
"It is important to define well what you are understanding as bingo in stadiums. You have permanent bingo and sporadic bingo. From what I'm seeing there, the bingos being contemplated in football would be sporadic bingos. Or would they be permanent? (someone responds to the president of Cruzeiro that would be permanent. He then follows his reasoning). Great, because it's exactly that permanent you have steady stream of income, the better. Now, for that, too, you have to define well in stadiums that the club is not owner. We have several examples there in Rio and in Belo Horizonte, the Mineirão, which is the largest, is not really Cruzeiro’s. We have an agreement, but it does not belong to Cruzeiro. (...) So who does not own the stadium, but has as Flamengo, Cruzeiro, several other clubs have, social clubs. So we have to put this on the agenda," said Pires de Sá.
Wagner Pires de Sá has extensive knowledge about bingos. In his career as an entrepreneur, he even opened several halls in Belo Horizonte. The revelation was made by him to an ESPN blog while still a candidate for the position of president of Cruzeiro. "I presided over the Vale do Rio Doce Foundation and later I was a member and researcher at the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA). After that, I returned to Belo Horizonte because I thought I had donated much of my experience to the state and to the country. Here, I started working in the private sector. I built eight entertainment companies (bingos) for third parties and I managed three ones. We generated more than 15 thousand jobs.”
Upon hearing the Chamber's appeal, Andres Sanchez answered: "What we understand is that when the stadium belongs to the state, for example, Brasília, Manaus, Cuiabá, has a club that pays for the stadium. So, in Mineirão, for example, Cruzeiro will have to make a partnership with the state (government) to take bingo also (to Mineirão), like Flamengo in Maracanã. It's a way for the state to spend less on most of the stadiums that were built for the World Cup. I thought about adding (in the amendment) also the social clubs, but I understood that the majority does not have social activities. It's just football," said the federal deputy and president of Corinthians.
Vicente Cândido said during the meeting with the clubs that the federal government supports the amendment and is interested in helping the clubs in the project that aims to generate this new revenue.
Speaking on the theme at the meeting, Mário Celso Petraglia, the president of the deliberative council of Atlético Paranaense, reminded that the possible approval of the amendment does not guarantee to the clubs the administration of the bingos, but its commercial exploitation. He stressed that the management of these enterprises is in the hands of a "world máfia."
"To contribute, because we have studied this part of the bingos a lot. The activity of bingo today is advancing even with a machine, not only the face-to-face bingo. Also the virtual bingo, through the internet. But to clarify, it will be a private activity, so, hardly, we will be able to accommodate all interests, all (clubs), coinciding within a specific law. So I see the case of some states, the need to have this club membership and the understanding with the stadium owner, who owns the control, the stadium operation, because the clubs do not have the expertise to have the task of operating a bingo hall. What the clubs will have is a participation by giving this condition to the operators. Because this is a world mafia. It starts with the one who owns the technology of the game, the software, which is really bingo. Then we have the machines, which are not sold, are rented. Clubs will have the opportunity to cash in on this, they will hardly have the opportunity to operate these homes, as they are not in condition to do so," said Petraglia.
Despite this testimony, the Atletico-PR manager was willing to take the project forward. "If we do not succeed now in the amendment, under the General Tourism Law, we can try again latr on our own. Just if we do not succeed now," he positioned himself.
The 'bingos amendment' was just one of the topics discussed by club leaders in the meeting with Andrés Sanchez, Bandeira de Mello and Vicente Cândido in the Chamber. The main agenda was the creation of a class association to represent the main associations of the country in political and economic issues. The sale of transmission rights from the Brazilian Championship to the foreign market was another much debated subject.
Representatives of Cruzeiro (president Wagner Pires de Sá and vice-president of Fabiano de Oliveira Costa), Atlético-PR (Mario Celso Petraglia), Internacional, Coritiba, Figueirense, Avaí, Juventude and Vila Nova-GO were also present.
Source: GMB/ Superesportes
