Brazil’s Tourism Minister Celso Sabino advocates for gambling bill vote post Parliamentary recess

Tourism Minister Celso Sabino told CNN on Monday (15) that once the bill legalising games of chance is sanctioned, the government expects there to be one integrated resort per state.

‘Just one development will mobilise more than R$1 billion for its implementation. We intend to have at least one (integrated resort) in each state of the federation,’ said Sabino in an interview with CNN.

‘There will be states that can have more than one, given their territorial size and population,’ he added.

The integrated resorts, according to Sabino, will allow Brazil to ‘be like other countries in the world that already allow the exploitation’ of games of chance, such as the United States, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, which welcome Brazilians in search of the activity.

Senate

The Gambling Bill has already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies - in the first half of 2022 - and is now before the Federal Senate.

Under discussion for more than 30 years, the bill provides for the legalisation of gambling and betting on horse races outside racecourses, as well as casinos in resorts and high-end hotels.

In June, the proposal was approved by the House Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ). It now needs to be voted on in the Plenary and then sanctioned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), has already stated that the vote should take place after the parliamentary recess - which runs from 17 July to 1 August. Sabino told CNN that the plenary process should take place ‘in the first weeks of August’.

‘We've put together a well-structured project that has managed to overcome the barriers in the Chamber. I imagine that the senators of the Republic will also have this commitment,’ he said.