Some measures taken by President Eurico Gaspar Dutra's government are memorable and we learned about them at school, such as the reestablishment of direct elections, freedom of expression and multipartyism. Few, however, know that one of the first measures taken by his government, in 1946, was precisely the ban on games of chance, on the grounds of their incompatibility with the moral and religious traditions of the Brazilian people. And there go, thus, seven and a half decades that the country finds itself on the sidelines of this world market of considerable proportions.
It is worth noting that the term "considerable" applied above is nothing but a euphemism, since according to the Global Industry Analysis (GIA), the gaming sector, on a global scale in the year 2020, surpassed the US$700 billion mark. For 2026, a figure of US$ 870 billion is projected. This capital goes to leading countries in world tourism, such as the United States (which collects ⅓ of the total brand), France, United Kingdom, among others, which, for us, is not a mere coincidence.
The Brazilian situation, as a secular state, is, therefore, curious. Among the member countries of the Group of Twenty (G20), the twenty largest economies in the world, with the exception of countries where gaming is illegal, there are three: Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and, of course, Brazil, being the first two, however, Muslim-majority secular states. More broadly, among the 156 countries that make up the World Tourism Organization (WTO), only 45 have not legalized gambling, and again 75% of them are Islamic.
The new fact in the lengthy discussion on the legalization of gambling in the national territory is that, at the initiative of the Chamber of Deputies' Tourism Committee, President Arthur Lira has just formed a working group (WG), formed by specialists, business leaders and parliamentarians, to update Bill 442/91, approved by a special committee of the Chamber five years ago, without having been taken to the plenary deliberation to date.
The delay lies in the ideological nature of the issue, which precisely banned the practice in the country in 1946, that is, pressure from religious benches. The vision that is tried to build in this article, however, is a harmonious dialogue in order to study, above all, the social damages caused by illegal gaming with operators that work on the margins of the state through violence and tax evasion. After all, the market logic is fulfilled: if there is demand, there will always be an offer, with someone willing to supply it, on time.
According to data made available by the members of the WG, illegal gambling moves around R$27 billion, far surpassing the official mark, who, in turn, turn 60% less, around R$17 billion. Estimates are that Brazil annually loses something close to R$ 20 billion in annual tax collection, in addition to another R$ 6 billion in grants. Not to mention that the legalization of gambling has the potential to formalize 450 thousand workers who work in the illegal market and, therefore, do not have a formal contract and guaranteed labor rights. At the time, in addition, studies project the generation of over 200 thousand jobs through legalization throughout the entire tourism production chain.
Seriously weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic, the regularization of the gambling industry is the greatest light at the end of the tunnel for the tourism sector, since the projected tax contributions, if directed to the General Tourism Fund (Fungetur), will make it possible : the increase in tourism activity in general, granting greater operational autonomy to the various sectors of its production chain; the expansion of promotional campaigns for inbound tourism; credit risk sharing in financing; and so on.
It is also noted, in a fundamental part, the need to set aside part of the resources to support the activities of inspection of the gaming environment, with the aim of facing up to tax evasion and money laundering crimes. Likewise, a contribution of resources must be destined especially for the provision of medical assistance to victims of compulsive disorders caused by gambling addiction.
In the context of the effectiveness of the State control in the hypothesis of the legalization of gambling, it is important to discuss the opportunity of institutionalizing a specialized regulatory agency for this purpose. It is noteworthy that the Brazilian state apparatus already has operational arms recognized for their excellence in carrying out specialized control in tax evasion and evasion, as well as in the repression of organized crime: the Federal Revenue Service of Brazil and the Federal Police, all that is required is to make small logistical adjustments so that the agencies become operative in the area.
Predictably, the simple initiative to revitalize Bill 442/91 is already raising passionate positions, the result of the sensitivity of the topic in question. On the one hand, some take a stand against legalization, largely for purely moral reasons which, it is daring to say, border on unconstitutionality due to the violation of Article 5, item VI of the Carta Magna; while others favor partial legalization, restricted to special tourist areas and casinos integrated into resorts.
There are also those who defend a broad legalization, with the argument of the ostensible presence of illegal gambling throughout the national territory, which would include slot machines, online betting, bingo and the jogo do bicho. The data, in this sense, are in favor of this latest propositional trend, given that according to data released by the Instituto Jogo Legal (IJL), more than 20 million Brazilian citizens bet daily on the jogo do bicho, while another 10 million access more than 450 overseas sites specializing in sports betting and casinos.
By duty of office, at the time we were in charge of the Special Secretariat for Tourism of Rio de Janeiro (2019/2020), we closely followed, at the National Congress, the progress of the ongoing negotiations for the progress of the theme. This is because we are convinced that the opening of casinos in places with high tourist visibility could be the beginning of a “table change” capable of improving the country's performance in terms of inbound tourism. In short, we believe that the 32nd place in the world ranking of tourism is far short of the formidable historical-cultural, architectural and landscape heritage of Brazil, not to mention the cordiality of Brazilians, always willing to receive, which is nowhere else on the planet.
Paulo Jobim Filho
Former Minister of Labor and Employment. He was the Special Secretary for Tourism of Rio de Janeiro (2019/2020).
