When it comes to betting or games of chance, we think of the heart team, a number or numerical combination formed by the day, month and year of the birthday of the mother, father, brother, and so on. Examples, in fact, abound. Each with their own belief.
If you've never played or bet, you probably know at least one person who has tried this market or someone who has won a game or bet. In Brazil, this industry has been around for a long time. Today, the illegal betting market moves figures that exceed R$ 20 billion reais/year. Our country does not see the color of that money.
Illegal market? Yea! Apart from the bets made through Caixa Econômica's operations, for about 80 years Brazil has treated bingo games, casinos, jogo do bicho, slot machines and the like as misdemeanors. The market has been operating underground for eight decades. This was the time when it grew up, employed and continues to guarantee the daily bread to many people.
It also followed technological advances and even offers modalities that fit in the palm of the hand, through cell phones and the internet. In Europe and Asia, gaming is a form of entertainment – official, regulated, taxed – that attracts thousands of people and employs thousands more, directly and indirectly, including waiters, chefs, taxi drivers…
The promotion of tourism is an undeniable differential. So undeniable that, recently, the United Arab Emirates, a country that attracts thousands of foreigners, announced a partnership with a casino giant, Wynn Resorts, based in Las Vegas (USA). The Islamic religion forbids this type of activity, but the agreement already signals that things are changing in the Middle East.
In the countries of the Americas, this market works legally – with the exception of Cuba and Brazil, which “export” 200,000 citizens a year, who leave the country to gamble. That is, they move the economy of other nations. In the United States, for example, this industry generates almost 2 million jobs in more than 200 types of professions that receive, per year, US$ 74 billion. Legalized, the market in Brazil would generate more than R$ 60 billion per year, and would pay around R$ 20 billion in taxes.
Who is interested in the perpetuation of this thriving market without regulation here? It is not about legalizing a currently illegal industry, but encouraging the generation of a new one, or at least the expansion of the existing one in a safe and fair way. Why continue to maintain fallacious arguments that gaming feed businesses of dubious origin and shady activity?
We want to fill these gaps through the law. It is indeed possible, with the right devices – including the non-use of cash notes – to combat terrorism and money laundering associated with gambling and betting. Regulating the market will not make more (or less) people addicted to gambling and betting, because we have already presented alternatives to identify these player profiles and act directly on the addiction issue.
Who would be the “addicts” among the 20 million Brazilians who bet daily on the jogo do bicho, one of the oldest in the country? Well, there's no way to know. This game alone involves around 450,000 jobs. If we take into account the other modalities, the formalization of the industry could provide around 650 thousand direct jobs and 200 thousand new vacancies.
How about we leave prejudices, judgments and “guessing” aside and get serious about the proposal of the Legal Framework for Gaming in Brazil? First, the understanding that the activity of gaming is considered a typically private economic activity subject to state control. So it's not a public service. Access to this market will not be free, but conditional on obtaining acts of consent. Authorizations, licenses and rules must be respected within this chain, including operators, operating locations, and even players. It will be necessary to act within the law. It's for everyone.
Acting within the law means collection, taxation, generation of direct and indirect formal jobs, income, a rotating economy, development. Why not legalize and deal with gaming, the establishments and/or environments where they operate, those responsible for them, as well as players and bettors who enjoy this industry? In Congress, there have been three decades in which the project to regulate the activities of this production chain barely takes two steps forward, three steps back, and does not come out of it.
For two years, the Covid-19 pandemic has severely penalized the events and tourism sectors. Brazil needs tools to help overcome the economic crisis. The people are hungry, without a job – 14 million people are out of work. The operation of these activities clandestinely does not really bring any gain to our country. On the contrary, it reinforces the image, among our population and the foreign community, that we are a complacent nation with illegal activities.
And while this claim does not leave the sphere of debate – for decades –, the roulette wheels spin, the dice spin, the numbered balls bounce, the cards are played on the table... and still have the chance to win the coveted prizes. What a pity for Brazil this octogenarian indefiniteness. In national territory – and around the world –, gaming continues.
FELIPE CARRERAS
Federal deputy (PSB-PE)
Source: Jota
