Zona de Azar Brasil – Lawmaker Says Regulated Gambling Industry Could “Transform” Brazil’s Economy
Brazil.- July 25th 2019 www.zonadeazar.com A Brazilian lawmaker has come out in support of pro gambling legislation. Brazilian Deputy Junior Bozzella outlined how a regulated gaming industry would provide a boost to the economy and create jobs in his weekly column published in A Tribuna.
Crucially Junior Bozzella is a member of President Jair Bolsonaro’s party. Bolsonaro was The Social Liberal Party (PSL) 2018 presidential election candidate and won in both rounds last year.
According to Bozzella the legalization of gambling in Brazil would result in additional state revenue of around $18bn per year and current laws need to be updated. Bozzella highlighted the fact that there are currently two bills under consideration: Bill 186/2014 (PLS 186/14) in the Senate and Bill 442/1991(PL 442/91) in the Chamber of Deputies.
Quoting figures released by researchers from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, the regulation of gambling websites in the country would generate more than R $ 2.7bn in taxes he said.
“In terms of comparison, Brazil today collects, on average, R $ 4.5bn per year with the automobile industry, approximately R $ 2bn per year with the beverage industry and around R$ 4bn with the cigarette industry.
“Studies show that the liberalisation of gaming would result in the creation of more than 1 million jobs, being 500 thousand direct and 500 thousand indirect, linked to various economic activities, due to the growth of the furniture industry, hotels, restaurants, etc. The scenario makes Brazil a target for the largest game companies in the world.”
While many lawmakers have in the past expressed their concerns over the fact that gambling might lead to money laundering Bozzella said that the opposite was true arguing that: “In order for the State to guarantee this control there are several mechanisms. In European countries, for example, where betting on sports is already regulated, to prevent and combat illicit activities, legislation obliges the betting site to allow the monitoring of gaming, as a conditioning factor for its operation” and that a regulated industry would bring with it increased controls.
The lawmaker concluded by saying that the legalisation of gambling in Brazil could “transform the future of the economy in our country.”
Moves have been afoot for some time now to legalise the industry but the Bolsonaro government has been tight lipped on the issue. It is believed however that the government supports an expansion of gambling but publicly won’t support it in case it alienates its evangelical base of supporters. Either way the new government has been plagued by scandal since Bolsonaro became president on January 1st leading to a number of ministers resigning or being sacked while the economy has also been slower than expected to recover from a recession.
Edited by: @MaiaDigital (Twitter) www.zonadeazar.com
