Tourism Ministers advocates for gambling legalisation in Brazil

Henrique Eduardo Alves, Brazil Minister of Tourism defends proposal to legalise gambling in the South American country.

Brazil.- The minister of tourism in Brazil, Henrique Eduardo Alves, has once again backed a proposal to legalise gambling in the  South American country. This time the declaration was made at the tourism fair, Destination Brazil Travel Mart. Even though gambling is prohibited in Brazil, Alves cited gambling legalisation as one of the priorities on his agenda.

Alves was the Minister of Tourism between April 2015 until March 28, 2016, when he left office after his party, the PMDB decided to leave the coalition with the then-President Dilma Rousseff-lead PT giving up all the positions it held in the federal government.

After Rousseff left office for up to 180 days to defend her possible impeachment, Alves returned to his former position last week. During his first few days back in the job, Alves has repeatedly defended the legalisation of gambling and drafted a bill based on legalised gambling legislation in countries such as England, Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Uruguay.

“We must have the courage to face in a serious, professional and republican way the legalisation of gambling. Currently, people play clandestinely, without generating any revenue for the country,” expressed Alves.

On the other hand, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) is against the proposal. During a hearing in March, Secretary of Institutional Relations, Peterson de Paula, concluded that there is not enough evidence or comparative studies to prove that monetising and regulating casinos and bingo parlours guarantees a positive impact on revenue as enjoyed by other countries.“Previous experience shows that gambling is generally exploited by groups linked to money laundering for tax evasion and corruption,” said de Paula.