The content of the proposal, which allows bingos and casinos to operate in tourist centers or integrated leisure complexes, meets ideological resistance from members of the Senate. The impasse motivated the president of the Senate's Senate's Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) , Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP), to postpone the debate on the Bill until next week.
“There is no way to debate with colleagues who have opinions formed by religious convictions. But the topic deals with a technical, economic issue,” stated senator Irajá (PSD-TO).
During the session at the CCJ, senator Eduardo Girão criticized the proposal and stated that it was “socializing the loss of the less favored to the detriment of the bank's profit” and said that the text “encourages crime and gambling addiction.”
The rapporteur responded to the criticism. He said that the ban on gambling harms tourism, creates currency evasion and causes the Federal Revenue to fail to collect around R$40 billion (US$ 7.5bn) per year.
“Could it be that countries like the USA and Singapore are wrong, and only Brazil is right?,” said the congressman.
Jogo do bicho
Regarding jogo do bicho, an activity controlled by criminal groups in Rio de Janeiro, Irajá declared that “we cannot ignore what is under our noses.”
According to the senator, it is necessary to establish limits, between pretending that the practice is not carried out and defining criteria to regularize it.
“In Rio, the jogo do bicho is more than 200 years old. If it stays informal, what will be the gain that society will have? Are we going to continue accepting passively?,” he asked.
Source: Poder360
