In an interview with local media Valor, Portinho said that “it will be easier with the beginning of a new government, with the legitimacy revalidated by the vote.” What the parliamentarian did not comment on is the disposition of the current President to approve or not the gaming sector. Hostage of the evangelical bench, Bolsonaro has already manifested himself a few times against the legalization of the activity in Brazil, but he left the door open for his sons to take the project forward.
The President of the Republic is avoiding talking about the subject in any way, since the concern is to lose votes and support from the evangelical bench, increasingly small in its campaign against the gaming sector. For them, Bolsonaro has already warned that if Congress approves the legalization, he will veto it. He admitted, however, that if the veto is overturned, he will be able to do nothing but accept the decision of the Brazilian Parliament.
A few days ago, members of the evangelical bench banned the President from submitting a provisional measure (PM) determining that companies that operate sports betting in Brazil must be based in the country in order to collect taxes. Even though there is no room for a PM on a subject that has not yet been regulated, the news was published by Lauro Jardim in his O Globo column and replicated by the press.
As the activity is legal and all it takes is the publication of a decree with the regulations, the sector is waiting for such a definition to install its business in the country. But the test balloons on the subject continue to show Bolsonaro's subservience to the evangelical bench on the issue.
What the President forgets or does not want to see is that all developed countries in the world already have casinos and other types of gaming in full operation, generating billions of dollars in taxes and generating hundreds of thousands of direct jobs and many others indirectly.
Three examples are enough for the president of Brazil to think about. The United States, the country with the largest Christian population in the world, is one of the most successful countries in the casino segment. In Muslim-majority countries, casinos are starting to be allowed. And China has Macau, the gaming mecca in the East, showing that even a communist country has opened up to activity in one of its special administrative regions.
Source: GMB
