The lawyer and author of the book “Casinos, Gambling and Lotteries - Liberation in Brazil”, Jaques Reolon, researched about gaming as an economic activity, all the bills that exist in the Chamber, the Senate, international models of the sector and surprised up with gaming as an economic activity can contribute to the economic growth and development of Brazil.
“I would say that gambling economic activity and all its expressions, both casino games, lotteries, other types of games, they affect airport and road infrastructure, the most diverse services, machines, equipment, I am talking about industrial production. So, if it is legalized, I would say that the country is an important market for gaming, it will attract many international players, generate a lot of employment and income in the country. Gaming is very important to bring dignity to the unemployed today in Brazil,” he said.
Jaques Reolon explains that his book deals with the legalization of gaming from the economic point of view and from the Regulatory Bodies in Brazil, such as Courts of Auditors, Public Ministry, Police and state inspection bodies. For him, the country has very strict mechanisms to supervise, being a more computerized and more efficient monitoring.
“The Brazilian State has a much greater control apparatus, for example, the law that was passed in 2018, during the administration of President Michel Temer, on sports betting, has an intense control mechanism, a specific allocation of funds for social assistance. So, I think today these deviations could exist, of course, but they would be much easier to be controlled by the Brazilian State and by the population itself,” commented the lawyer.
When asked about his vote in relation to the bill that regulates gambling, federal deputy Gilson Marques declares that his vote will be in favor of the proposal. The parliamentarian says that he does not agree that there can be no gambling in Brazil, because in reality gambling is monopolized by the State.
“Caixa Econômica operates a game of chance. The purpose of the law is that more people from the private sector can do it too and I liked the argumentation of control made by Dr. Jaques, because this control exists when there is no legalization, when it is criminalized and I would like to make a reflection; why can the state do things that if an ordinary citizen did it would be considered a crime? Exactly, gaming, why can the state do it? Why does the state have a monopoly? But it's because gaming is a bad thing, it shouldn't have it, even if I agree with that argument. So, the State, the government, politicians can organize and I ask more, which politician do you trust to decide what is good or not good for you to do,” expressed Reolon.
The deputy says that people with more resources can travel to Miami, to other casinos, to Uruguay to play. Having the option and being free to make your choices: “The truth is one, we are talking about freedom, about political power over the citizen, forcefully charging everyone to establish rules that people can comply with, except politicians, this is immoral. We need to pass the responsibility on to the citizen without counting, that the economic argument is of social exclusion. So, it only excludes those who don't have the financial means, and that's what the State does, it's the politicians through laws. So the best way is to make people pass on freedom and they do it responsibly, just like alcohol, for example.”
Why legalize?
Regarding the opposition to the proposal and the harmful questions that gaming would bring, lawyer and writer Jaques comments that the text of the Bill contains follow-up actions that will serve to prevent people from becoming addicted to betting, in addition to other alternatives that other countries already offer: “I think there was a legislative process that greatly improved the texts in the following sense, for example, that could affect the family, ludopathy, and there are some bills that provide for mechanisms, for example , allocation of a portion of the revenue from gaming is to inhibit ludopathy, it is not just a treatment after the addiction is installed, but it is a preventive method.”
“So, funding for players is prohibited, he plays with that resource he has. You avoid another game stimulus. There is a commission in England, which has now inhibited the advertising of gaming to some extent. The legislation has mechanisms to avoid these harmful effects. So, I mean, there is in Brazil today a well-improved and well-thought-out legislative process on this issue,” he said.
For the federal deputy, some activities are associated with crime, precisely because there is no regulation to monitor these demands. “Illegality, along with other illicit practices, whether prostitution, drug trafficking, or something like that, it happens when the environment is not regulated, when the environment is not legal and it is interesting that people have this false idea that someone or some family will be harmed, because if they decriminalize it will go out to gaming, as if someone today, being this prohibited, has some difficulty looking for a bingo or playing jogo do bicho,” he said.
Gilson also highlights that the gains with legalization are greater and this positive incentive reduces losses and not the opposite. “Especially because competition decreases and whoever is willing to play jogo do bicho is the owner of the hill, who is armed, is the owner of the pub who runs the risk of charging more and has bad equipment, it is the Military or Civil Police, who receives some bribery to close the eye of that respective house. When it is legalized, it brings freedom for people to undertake services that are only possible so, as any company constitutes a CNPJ, people from the community come without having to go hidden in alleys.”
The lawyer analyzes that there is an absence of the State, because when other sectors that impose an attitude of power, the domain overlaps. Thus, crime prevails in the absence of the State. “I believe that all arguments and points of view have to be considered and respected, but this issue of illegalities, regardless of the corporate structure, it always occurs and we have countless examples of problems that occur in various economic activities. There will be problems in this area of gaming, possibly there will be, but then we have these State mechanisms to combat and it is a very strict legislation that is being discussed in the Brazilian parliament.”
Congressman Gilson who, despite being in favor of the Bill, has some points that in his conception need to be improved. “There are some restrictions that the project provides, which was approved by the special commission; such as, for example, geographic restrictions, restriction or limitation of investment, a large investment is required to start the type of business, that is, restrictions artificially placed by the legislator can make us have a gambling oligopoly, which we don't want. We just want to break the monopoly of the State, open the market so that the consumer can choose what he finds most convenient and cheapest, in a freer society,” he described.
Lawyer Jaques Reolon describes the issue of an initial contribution withheld to guarantee the payment of the prizes for the gamblers, being much debated the value, how much millions would be. “This could create a barrier in the market and inhibit smaller companies from participating at the expense of large companies. I think it started to be discussed, I even defended the issue of putting insurance on every bet to avoid this barrier to entry. Now, like all economic activity, this requires a high investment. So that also means, I can't have predatory competition.”
The lawyer emphasizes that the economic activity of gaming will bring the possibility of taking advantage of a less qualified workforce. “So, it means having a rigorous and competitive market, for example, in these casinos; I'm going to employ a lot of people, such as security guards, cleaning, conservation, maintenance people. So, it is this population, especially after the pandemic, that needs to be embraced by this project and the competition can be well defined by the Brazilian parliament to be more rigorous this economic activity.”
On December 16 of last year, the Bill 442/91 that regulates the jogo do bicho, sports betting, casinos integrated into resorts, horse racing and bingo in the country, had the emergency regime authorized, with 293 votes in favour, 138 against and 11 abstentions. In February, with the resumption of the legislature, the proposal report will be discussed in the plenary and it will be possible to vote without the need for the committee stage.
Source: Juliane Marinho - Diario de Pernambuco
