The new text provides for the legalization and regulation of games of chance, in physical or virtual media, in six modalities: casino, bingo, jogo do bicho, fixed-odd betting, turf betting and skill games. If approved, text goes to the Senate.
In September, Lira created a Working Group (WG) to debate the 1991 bill and its update. Since then, the group has discussed the matter and held public hearings, but without much spotlight. The matter had not been debated in the Chamber for some time. The last movement of the project is from 2016, when the opinion of the rapporteur Guilherme Mussi (PP-SP) was approved in the Special Committee of the House created to deliberate on the framework.
The WG has deputy Felipe Carreras (PSB-PE) as rapporteur. A draft of the replacement for the project was delivered to the group on the 8th, but it will still undergo some changes. To R7 portal news, Carreras defended that the matter was exhaustively debated in the working group, created by Lira on September 9th, with the indication of the members and forecast of 90 days of operation, extendable for an equal period.
"This possibility of discussion and debate was not excluded. The working group was opened with a deadline and there was no lack of discussion. If any party was not interested in nominating a member, it is because they did not want to discuss the topic," defended Carreras, stressing that the group has parliamentarians from different political positions, such as leftist references and even allies of President Jair Bolsonaro, such as Bibo Nunes (PSL-RS). Asked about the need to address the urgency of the matter, the rapporteur spoke about unemployment and the need for tax collection by the Brazilian state.
"Gaming is happening more and more and the state is not raising anything. We see that it is important for the Brazilian state to collect, supervise. Every day the state is losing more opportunities. There is no more time," he said. According to him, the fact that it is the end of the year, close to the recess, does not justify not discussing and voting on an issue. The congressman also stressed that the population is in need of jobs and that the legalization and regulation of the gaming sector will open up more opportunities.
The draft prepared by the rapporteur has 66 pages and brings a series of points to be established in the regulatory framework. One of them, for example, is that the licenses to have a casino, for example, will be preceded by auctions, and that there is a limit on the number of integrated casino licenses: one license per state with up to 15 million inhabitants; two for states with between 15 million and 25 million inhabitants; and three licenses per state with more than 25 million inhabitants.
The project also creates a National System of Gaming and Betting that will be constituted by the regulatory agency, operating entities, tourism, gambling agents and accounting and operational auditing companies for gaming and betting registered with the federal regulatory and supervisory agency.
Money laundering
More than legalizing games of chance, the project talks about regulation and functioning, detailing, for example, the creation of tourist casinos. One of the most questionable points in the matter over the years, however, refers to the risk that gaming will be used for money laundering. To try to avoid questioning, the working group met with the Federal Revenue and with members of the Coaf (Council for the Control of Financial Activities).
Deputy Felipe Carreras stated that the bill included the obligation to use only systems without banknotes, which would help with control. "If you only put digital money, it's possible to track everything. The player will only be able to use digital money, credit card. Our understanding is that with the technological resource prohibiting banknotes, everything can be tracked. And whoever wants to launder money, it will be easier to wash in a parking lot than in gaming," he said.
According to the congressman, Brazil fails to collect billions of reais when it does not regulate the activity, and makes room for illegality. The idea of the project, according to him, is to include the linking of taxes obtained with gaming to spending on priority areas, such as health and education. Carreras also stressed that it is a 'fallacy' to say that Brazil does not have gaming when, in fact, it is only operated by the Brazilian state, through lotteries.
The matter, however, is controversial, with great restriction from left-wing parties and the Evangelical bench, which has already blocked the approval of the matter several times. Thus, urgent voting on the matter must be resisted by these benches. Opposition leader, Deputy Alessandro Molon (PSB-RJ) stated that the matter "deserves a deeper debate than what is wanted to be done."
A first order ally of President Jair Bolsonaro, Bibo Nunes (PSL-RS) is part of the working group and argues that the approval of the matter will not harm the president before the Evangelical bench. "No president can be hostage to any segment. He has to be hostage to employment and development, based on seriousness," he said. Nunes also stated that evangelicals are not in favor of the project, but that the bullet stand is. This second group, despite being in favor of the proposal today, is against the release of bingos, which may require a change in the text.
Regarding the urgency, he guaranteed that he has been trying to put the subject on the agenda for some time. Now, after several meetings of the group (which had the first one on September 14th), there was an understanding that it was time. Like Carreras, he argues that the issue has already been widely debated. "I don't see lights going out," he said. The congressman defends that "times have changed" and that it is necessary to think more about progress and employment than "on the side of religiosity, which has nothing to do with this moment."
Asked about the need to still discuss the matter, the rapporteur stressed that the parliamentarians already have the basic text. "Anyone who wants to disagree on one point or another can amend it, highlight it, it's super healthy," he said, noting that the matter has already gone through a commission, which took place in 2016.
Bibo Nunes also stressed that it is necessary to bring gamnig to legality, generating taxes and jobs. For him, with today's technology, it will be difficult to use mechanisms through gaming to launder money and promote other acts like this.
Source: GMB / R7
