After months of deliberating, Brazil has taken steps to legalise casinos, but only those that are part of integrated resorts.
The proposition is being championed by the South American state’s Ministry of Tourism, and if passed as law, would disregard previous plans for more wide-ranging casino legalisation.
The new proposal advocates building up to ten casinos in the country’s two most prominent states – São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro – with the gaming facilities part of a larger resort. But it also disregards all forms of online betting and places full emphasis on land-based casinos. The Ministry of Tourism has justified this by arguing that the integrated resort model is the only one that could prove profitable in Brazil.
Joao Carlos Bacelar, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, strongly opposes the Ministry of Tourism’s bill, stating it would only help those two states and create just 20,000 jobs, whereas legalising a variety of gambling, including betting, bingo and lottery, would generate more revenue and over 700,000 jobs for many of Brazil’s residents, Casino News Daily reported.
Caesars eyes Brazilian market
Three representatives from Caesars met with Mansueto de Almeida, the Brazilian Secretary of Fiscal, Energy and Lottery Monitoring of the Ministry of Finance, as well as other Brazilian officials, to present an investment project they claimed could benefit the country financially.
Such a deal would be relying on the Brazilian gaming market becoming legalised on a wider scale, with Caesars’ Brazilian representative Andre Feldman insisting “there must be legislation across the market with joint support of the entire industry, for it to succeed. We have to be united.”
