“If someone says that he doesn't live with jogo do bicho on the side of a church, he pretends not to look,” says the congressman.
In order to try to alleviate criticism of the bill that the legalization of gaming will encourage corruption, the rapporteur included a provision according to which only the Union will be able to authorize the operation of casinos or gambling companies. The license will be granted by an agency yet to be created.
The bill, which was distributed to lawmakers last week, legalizes the activities of casinos, bingos, jogo do bicho and other betting (including horse racing). Rules for players are also stipulated and a registry has been instituted to diagnose compulsive gamblers.
Main excerpts from the interview:
O Antagonista - Deputy, should your proposal be concluded next week? How are the conversations in this regard?
Felipe Carreras - I want to see if I close the report next week to validate it with the working group and let President Arthur Lira feel free to let the House deliberate on the topic.
In other words, the matter will only go to the plenary in 2022. Correct?
No, no. The next week we’ll be already voting, I'm convinced. He [Lira] will do two weeks of voting from Monday to Friday. As this matter is already set to go to plenary, it is possible to vote.
Would you bet there is vote before the end of the year break?
I bet and I can get paid. (laughs).
In general terms, what will this proposal bring about change? The topic is controversial and faces resistance from sectors of society. How will citizens benefit from the legalization of gaming?
If you go to the lottery, anywhere, there will be a betting game. If anyone says he doesn't live with the jogo do bicho on the side of a church, he actually pretends not to look. If the person watches a final of Libertadores, of Brasileiro Championship, he will see ads from betting sites. There's no way to pretend not to see. Is there. If you Google it, there are countless online betting sites, 24 hours a day. There, either the person is in favor of illegality or legality. What the project does is investigate, inspect and collect.
Deputy, in your calculations, can this market generate some kind of economic growth? Is it worth the risk?
With the Caixa lottery alone, it is estimated that the collection will reach R$ 17 billion in a year, Sporting bets, thatsponsor a football team, are on television, websites and the like, collect five times that. When you go to the tourist bias of this, to the integrated casinos, you look at Macau, which used to receive 6 million tourists and went to 20 million international tourists. When you look back at Singapore and look at the before and after of the integrated casinos, which went from 9 million international tourists to 20 million international tourists, that's a huge financial impact. The countries that regulate, collect.
And the concern about people who can get addicted? And the ludopaths?
In our report, I make it clear that it is possible to know who is a ludopath. Today, there are ludopaths and they cannot take care of themselves. There is no record of this.
What about the possibility of corruption and money laundering crime? Is there any mechanism that can prevent this?
I think that if you have a law, there is a rule, you have technology at your disposal, it is possible to have control of everything. There is a way to identify who is working outside the law and punish. Today, everyone is working and the country does not collect. Just do not see who does not want.
But deputy, isn't it a very optimistic view to imagine that just plain and simple legalization solves this problem?
I think that, with the tools, with the resources that are available today by the inspection and collection control bodies, they have all the necessary tools to identify whoever commits a crime. As it stands, it doesn't. We are here to build a joint report, whether with the Public Ministry, Federal Police, or Federal Revenue. Now, does Brazil want to be different from everyone else and let illegality continue? The big question is: who is interested in continuing illegality?
Source: O Antagonista
