“When the police are corrupt, they make a living by charging bribes for clandestine activities that take place,” says Rodolfo Schneider, host of the Jornal Bandnews Rio radio show. For him, the jogo do bicho, bingo and other activities are very conducive to the practice of corruption precisely because of the lack of adequate regulation.
Schneider mentions the book about jogo do bicho “The Basements of Misdemeanor”, which describes how the practice grew. “The guys from the dictatorship entered and formed the jogo do bicho the way it is today. See what it has always been and the promiscuous relationships, from the cradle, of the misdemeanor people with the police forces and other ones, as well as in the Judiciary.”
According to him, by legalizing gaming, there is revenue generating tax and employment, allocating the money to a specific area. “The Quitandinha in the past was a monumental casino. Even Walt Disney was there, as well as countless international personalities. And then comes President Dutra, whose wife was a fervent Catholic, who banned gambling in Brazil.”
“Today this is supported by hypocrisy and also by the federal government, since Caixa wants to continue with the monopoly, even though state lotteries already exist,” he commented.
He said that “it's a shame, a joke and we pretend it doesn't exist, that in every corner of Rio de Janeiro there is no gaming. We pretend that in Copacabana, bingo is being targeted by an operation. We commented here a few times that there was money for someone to turn a blind eye.”
Schneider returned to defend the legalization of the activity to put an end to corruption and for Brazil to collect and generate jobs. “The Cassino da Urca, now occupied by the European Institute of Design, was beautiful. It had a beautiful auditorium with a monumental stage, where Carmem Miranda performed and there was a huge collection.”
In conclusion, he said: “We are stupid and hypocritical not releasing the activity and leaving it in the hands of the guys who support corruption. This gets loose and we pretend that we are a moralized country and that we don't surrender to games of chance. For God's sake. I hope that now we can face it at the federal level and that the new government will do what is correct. A few days ago, Edinho Silva, communication coordinator for president-elect Lula, clearly defended gaming legalization, saying that it has to be money allocated to education. Whatever. We have to move forward”.
Source: GMB
