In the 21st century, with gambling legalized in approximately 75% of the planet, it is not possible to continue with antiquated legislation, full of hypocrisy and without any technical-legal argument that justifies its prohibition.
It is undeniable that gaming is universal element in all human cultures. Archaeological discoveries indicate the presence of paintings or notes on walls that demonstrate that the act of betting or simply playing games with another person, with the possibility of winning or losing something, is an activity so ancient that it may have appeared in the period between 3,500 BC and 2500 BC. In the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, for example, who reigned over Ancient Egypt around 1300 BC, was found a complex board game with rod-shaped dice called “senet”, played based on a bet that it could be a good or a promise.
The years have passed and the most modern civilizations have considerably innovated the modalities that today range from the old dice to slot machines, through cards, horse racing, lottery and roulette. Today, gaming works as an industry and countries where the activity is legal have become tourist destinations for thousands of people.
Unfortunately, Brazil is not on this list. In the 21st century, we are one of the few western and democratic countries in which gambling, in general, is not properly regulated, despite being rooted in our culture. We are practically isolated. In the G20, group of the twenty largest economies, only three prohibit the practice: Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Despite the Islamic majority, countries such as Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Indonesia and Egypt allow the operation of gaming, mainly casinos.
With the ban, Brazil no longer collects around R$ 20 billion per year and stops generating 700 thousand direct and indirect jobs.
In addition, the ban – which has existed since 1946 – is ineffective, strengthens informality in the sector and in the labor market and prevents taxation, especially on offshore sites. Anyway, Brazilians are not prevented from playing, the Brazilian government is prevented from collecting. In other words, we lost a valuable source of funding for the public sector and, still, we stopped promoting tourist destinations.
This is an outdated and misguided view of the legal exploitation of gaming that we need to change. In the middle of the 21st century, with gambling legalized in approximately 75% of the countries in the world, it is impossible to continue with antiquated legislation, full of hypocrisy and without any technical-legal argument that justifies its prohibition.
The prohibitive model made Brazil the world champion of unregulated gambling. Economic activity that moves billions of reais annually without any inspection, control or counterpart for the State and society.
While we are discussing whether we should remove this sector from illegality, hundreds of offshore companies offer online gaming to Brazilians every day, with the right to advertising on all TV channels, and the world is already discussing “casino in the metaverse” through vending machines, virtual slot machines and table games. The Chamber of Deputies can start to get Brazil out of the way in this gaming sector.
Bacelar
Federal deputy for Podemos/BA, president of the Tourism Commission and the Mixed Parliamentary Front for the Regulatory Framework for Gaming in Brazil
Source: Diário do Poder
