Angelo Coronel argues that the time has come for religious and non-religious groups to unite so that the matter passes through Congress, since the jogo do bicho, for example, "is a cultural program" of the Brazilian. "Today it is a custom. They play from evangelicals to priests, from doctors to lawyers, from policemen to politicians. A large part of them bets on it, but they do it clandestinely. It's time for us to legalize it," he says.
Congresso em Foco - How is your report on the legalization of bingo and casinos?
Angelo Coronel - The project is for the legalization of all types of existing games. What I think is that all the modalities, that is, slot machines, bingos, jogo do bicho are legalized and then there is revenue for the government. Casino is also included in the legalization, but it takes a while for the necessary infrastructure to have a casino to be implemented. It is not possible to set up a casino without having an infrastructure that receives tourists.
In the same way that we are after money to pay for the new emergency aid, there is nothing like having the opportunity to legalize these games that are already being played in Brazil without paying a cent of tax. I think the time has come for everyone to come together: Catholic, evangelical, and non-Catholic and non-evangelical benches, for everyone to come together because it is a source of taxes. We are not going to be an exception in the world, quite the contrary, today without gambling being legalized we are being an exception, so we cannot miss this source.
And wat about inspection? We know that it is a sector that involves a lot of money, from jogo do bicho and casinos to slot machines. How do you see this issue?
Today the Federal Revenue is well equipped. We only need to plug the electronic machines to the website or in the link of the Federal Revenue. This is a maturation that I have no doubt that will be very fast, it is just a matter of adapting the system of these existing modalities with the Federal Revenue's way of inspecting.
Have you followed any amendments; do you have any questions?
No, I will present the report next week and from there, before it goes to the vote, it should certainly have amendments. Now it is unacceptable: today we see, when watching a football game, several advertisements of electronic gambling sites on the edge of the pitch and the Brazilian government does not receive a penny on it.
Are these platforms hosted in Brazil?
Nobody knows where they are, they are virtual. Today, Brazil does not collect a penny from these games, except for the sports lottery, the federal lottery that is also a game mode. We should follow these same ways of inspection as is done with the federal lottery and the sports lottery. I hope that the states also implement their state lotteries as it was in the past, that they were also deactivated and that they are now being authorized by the states to implement. Whoever wants to play, nobody is obliged to play.
In the case of the lottery, we have Caixa regulating this. How would we regulate the jogo do bicho? Do today's operators become legal? How is this situation?
From the moment that Caixa opens an accreditation notice, entrepreneurs of the jogo do bicho will be accredited. Evidently, there are reserved spaces in each location, because it is not enough for everyone to leave, as a matter of fact, new entrepreneurs open up other fronts that end up causing confusion. You have to prioritize who is already in the market, who already has a history.
With regard to casinos, the project talks about luxury resorts to take advantage of the local labor, how do you think the regulation of all this? Which ministry would be responsible for organizing this?
The issue of casinos needs high investments, which will take four to five years for Brazil to start collecting taxes as a result of gambling. It is evident that the government should institute or even create some regulatory agency for gambling or even use the structure of a Ministry of Regional Development (MDR). Or the Ministry of Economy itself can be responsible for this portfolio. Evidently, from the moment you start building the casinos, there will also be generation of workforce, there will be generation of taxes because the entrepreneurs will buy equipment, production material for construction. The economy starts to turn from there, now the fruit of the casino that is the tax we will only reap after four or five years, which is an average maturation period for a casino in the world, and in Brazil it will be no different.
Unless you already take advantage of existing resorts and from there you can only make the casino arena. This will all remain in the future regulation. First, we legalize, then we go to regulation. This regulation will be very important For example, how many casinos in Rio de Janeiro, how many in Brasília, Bahia and so on? The entrepreneur will also not want to place a casino in a place where there is no tourist potential to be able to sell gambling offer.
Often, when you travel with your family, one member likes gambling, but the rest want to enjoy the region's tourism. So, it's not enough to just think about gambling. We have to think about the infrastructure that can please the lovers of this activity.
Do you think there is room for this matter to develop in Congress?
I believe that the best time to legalize gambling is now. Especially with Brazil needing resources in the post-pandemic to recover our economy and face social programs. Mainly emergency aid. There is a forecast, a projection, a priori, of R$ 50 billion in annual revenue. This is a figure without much verification, but it is estimated R$ 50 billion in annual tax generation and more than 700 thousand direct jobs.
We cannot give that up. To give you an idea, in South America only Brazil does not have legalized gambling. When you go to Europe, America, several countries have a great attribute in the gambling to grow their GDP. We cannot give that up and stay out of history.
Especially these games that are already paid for today, like the joog do bicho that is already a cultural program. Today it is a custom that evangelicals play to priests, doctors to lawyers, policemen to politicians, a large part of them bets on it, but they do it clandestinely. It's time for us to legalize it.
Source: Congresso em Foco
