Zona de Azar Brazil – Brazil: Integrated Resorts Bill Gathers Momentum

Brazil.- 25th August 2021 www.zonadeazar.com Senator Vital do Rêgo has been appointed as rapporteur of a bill project that aims to legalise casinos in large scale resorts. The President of the house, Senator Rodrigo Pacheco, appointed Veneziano Vital do Rêgo to draft Bill 4495/2020, which provides for the expansion of tourism in the country through the implementation of integrated resorts (IRs).

The bill was originally put forward by Senator Irajá’s in 2020. Bill 4495/2020 would allow for Integrated Resorts via a public tender with licences being valid for 35 years. The bill caps a maximum of one resort per state and one in the Federal District. Unlike other bills which have been put forward in the past it is more specific in scope and addresses the benefits of integrated casinos in the wider context of tourism policy only and does not address any other forms of gambling.

The appointment of a rapporteur by the Senate President is seen as a positive step in paving the way for casinos in resorts.

If approved the physical space occupied by the casino should constitute a maximum of 10 per cent of the total area of the integrated resort. It also establishes that “it is up to the Union, exclusively, to grant, regulate and inspect the services, the implantation and the operation of the activities of resorts integrated with casinos.”

In justifying the project last year, the senator said that the national tourism industry “has been suffering from the economic slowdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic and with numerous problems in the sector, such as the low visitation of international tourists, the lack of public investments and concerns about public security, the lack of resources for marketing and promotion campaigns, among others.”

Last year, senator Irajá informed Economy Minister Paulo Guedes that the arrival of integrated resorts, as proposed in his bill, had the potential to attract R$ 44 billion, It could double the number of foreign tourists in five years from six million (today) to 12 million.

The IR model has the backing of the current Minister of Tourism, Gilson Machado Neto and President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro came out in favour of legalising gambling in casinos during a meeting with Deputy Newton Cardoso Jr, President of the Tourism Commission of the Chamber of Deputies in August 2019.

Edited by: @MaiaDigital  www.zonadeazar.com