With an eye on the October presidential election, the evangelical bench in the Chamber of Deputies will continue to side with President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) even if gambling is allowed in the country with support from the federal government, UOL has learned.
The Evangelical Parliamentary Front of the National Congress is against the bill in progress in the Chamber that provides for the legalization of bingos, casinos and even jogo do bicho. For members of the bench, making gambling legal in Brazil will intensify money laundering, drug trafficking and gambling addiction. They say they believe the losses would be greater than the financial benefits from tax collection.
However, deputies of the group, under reservation, said that the eventual approval of the project will not cause a split in the support of the bench for Bolsonaro, even with part of the government supporting the text.
For these allies, it is preferable to continue alongside Bolsonaro so that he continues to support conservative agendas. They claim that a breakup would damage the president's image and end up benefiting more left-wing political opponents, such as former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
In the opinion of influential deputies on the bench, Bolsonaro is considered the pre-candidate for the presidency with a speech that most closely resembles Christian ideals.
Intimacy with Evangelicals
Bolsonaro has been intimately close to evangelical leaders since the beginning of his term. The apex of this approach was the appointment of the pastor and former attorney general of the Union André Mendonça as minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court).
Federal deputy Marco Feliciano (PL-SP) stated that, if the project is approved, there will be no split in the government's evangelical base, "even because we support the government because of the customs agenda, including the ban on gambling."
"The principle of democracy is to accept the results, when you don't have a majority, but in this case, we conservatives are a majority, far beyond the evangelical base of the government," he said. There are doubts whether critics of the text will be able to block it in Parliament. The legalization of gambling has the support of a wing of bolsonaristas and the center, which has Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI) as the main exponent of the group in charge of the Civil House, within the Planalto.
Behind the scenes, parliamentarians claim that Nogueira articulates the vote on the project, presented more than 30 years ago in the Chamber, with the support of the president of the House, deputy Arthur Lira (PP-AL). The Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, and the Minister of Tourism, Gilson Machado, when president of Embratur (Brazilian Agency for the International Promotion of Tourism), have also already indicated that they are in favor of the release of casinos in the country.
The disapproval of the Minister of Human Rights, the evangelical Damares Alves, who came to call the defense of casinos a "pact with the devil", does not seem to bother Ciro Nogueira, say deputies. This is because there are even doubts about the real position of President Bolsonaro on the subject.
Maneuver to avoid wear
Although he said he would veto the project, if approved by the National Congress, Bolsonaro has already indicated that he is in favor of resorts — which must have casinos — in the Angra dos Reis region, for example. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) has also met with casino entrepreneurs on a trip to Las Vegas, a gambling paradise, in the United States.
The eventual veto would just be a way for Bolsonaro to avoid attrition towards the evangelical base, even more so in an election year, in the assessment of part of allies.
The prediction on the part of the deputies is that Bolsonaro actually vetoes the project, if approved, but then gives green light to the government’s support base to overturn the veto. In this way, the president would not disagree with the evangelical bench or with the center wing.
The bill is ready to be voted on in the House floor. Deputies in favor of gambling want Arthur Lira to put it to a vote this month. Lira declared that the project would be voted on at the beginning of the year, when it is "well solidified".
With Lira's consent, a working group updated the project's proposals. The urgent procedure for the text was easily approved in the plenary in December, just before the recess.
Even betting on a presidential veto, the Evangelical Parliamentary Front of Congress still seeks to convince parliamentarians in favor of gambling to change their position and, at least, delay the vote.
A request to Lira is that the project not be analyzed by the remote system, in effect until Carnival. According to sources linked to the president of the House, it is easier to reverse votes or an agreement in person.
The opposition to the legalization of gambling unites the evangelical bench with Catholics — the CNBB (National Conference of Bishops of Brazil) even issued a note against the project — and part of the left. Critics of the idea also claim to count on the possible contrary pressure from public opinion, which gains weight in an election year.
Rapporteur says project will generate jobs
Rapporteur of the project, Deputy Felipe Carreras (PSB-PE) told UOL that resorts integrated with casinos will help to stimulate tourism, generate jobs and generate more than R$ 100 billion, with the potential to collect R$ 20 billion in taxes.
He said that people against the project "did not bother to read it" and questioned "who cares about gambling, which every Brazilian knows exists and bets, to remain illegal?"
Asked about the criticism that the legalization and expansion of gambling could open space for the practice of more financial crimes, Carreras said that he had conversations with the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Attorney General's Office and the Federal Revenue Service to include mechanisms to combat corruption in the project.
Last year, in a discussion about the project, Carreras directly challenged religious parliamentarians on the House floor.
"How many times deputies go to the suburbs of our Brazil, look at a church and see that, next to the church, there is an jogo do bicho point of sale? And, in this stall, there is a worker who has a decent job, that supports your family. Are we going to pretend they don't exist?"
Bolsonarist deputy Bibo Nunes (PSL-RS) declared, in plenary, that "only in Brazil, in the case of online gaming, there are more than 450 sites that earn almost R$ 20 billion, and the government does not receive even 1 cent. I don't play anything, but I want progress, development and I don't want cynicism!"
Risk and plebiscite proposal
Marco Feliciano stated to UOL that it is a "fallacy that part of the profits will be reverted to social benefits." In his view, spending on public treatment of compulsive gamblers, such as in cases of depression, will be greater than the tax revenue from gambling.
Regarding Ciro Nogueira's support for the project, he said it was "natural that among dozens of ministers there are always some in favor and others against in any debate," but he stressed that the final word belongs to the president. He bets that Bolsonaro's eventual veto will not be overturned by Parliament.
Evangelical pastor deputy Roberto de Lucena (Podes-SP), who was vice president of the Chamber's Tourism Commission last year and was once the Sao Paulo state secretary of tourism, defended that being against the project is not necessarily related to religiosity or moral agenda.
To UOL, he said that the environment of economic crisis is just a favorable pretext for those who defend the legalization of gambling.
Lucena proposes that a plebiscite be held on the subject or, then, pilot projects, as in Vale do Jequitinhonha, in Minas Gerais, or in the north east — regions with lower socioeconomic development. If after a period, like five years, the results are positive, he said there wold be no problem in supporting legalization more broadly.
Source: UOL
