Bingo legalization defended in Brazil

During the general commission held last Wednesday, who debated the proposal in the Plenary of the Chamber of Representatives, Congressman Regis de Oliveira (PSC-SP) explained that, among the advantages proposed in the amendment, there is the guarantee of control of the activity that will avoid its use for money laundering, will increase collection, it will legalize the employment of people linked to the activity, on top of the identification and treatment of people with gambling problems by the health system.

 “The amendment plans that a 15% of the royalties that will be collected by the government with the activity, will be allocated to public health programs for the attention and treatment of people with gambling problems. These people will be identified by a national registry that will be in charge of the bingo halls. Once identified as a person with gambling problems, the player will not be able to visit gambling venues any more, because the owners of these places will be subject to the payment of important fines in case they do not respect this prohibition,” explained the representative.

The proposal that legalizes the activity of bingo games in Brazil has already been approved by permanent commissions and is ready to be voted by the Plenary of the Chamber. The text of the amendment gathers eight projects (270/03, 1986/03, 2999/04, 3492/04, 2429/07, 2944/04, 3489/08 and 2254/07). Meanwhile, after the performance of the general commission in the Plenary of the Chamber, its president, representative Michel Temer (PMDB-SP), informed that there is not a deadline planned for the votation of the project.

Regis de Oliveira amendment plans that, once discounted the jackpots paid, the bingo halls will have to pay the Union, the States or the Federal District, on top of the taxes, a 17% of the reserves under the name of royalties, with the 15% allocated to the health system; 1% for investment in culture and a 1% for investments in sports. Gambling venues will have to pay a monthly fee of control of us$ 11,233.

Online programs used in bingo halls will have to be connected to tax control entities, to allow the supervision in real time. In the case of the videobingo, 80% of the value of the bets will have to be distributed as jackpots. For traditional bingo halls, this amount will be of 70%.
 
This type of business will just be able to be operated by the company that proves to be updated with all fiscal debits. Partners will have to present a series of documents as a negative certification in the civil and criminal areas.

Oliveira believes that the measures planned in the amendment will prevent bingos from being useful for money laundering and generate resources to the country: “On top of a solid control, there will be a distribution of resources to the Public Power. So, the fact of legalizing bingo does not mean to support any type of criminal activities. On the contrary: we are giving effective conditions for all the activities to be supervised. Brazil is acknowledged as a touristic country, so it is esencial that we have gambling activities to incentivate tourism,” he said.

Regis de Oliveira also highlights that the text plans the creation of a national registry of gaming addicts that will be banned to bingo halls. The proposal establishes a limited value of bets per day for each person. Bingo halls that do not comply with the rules might pay a fee of up to us$ 280,836; their equipment might be seized and their operation could be suspended.

Those who continue having illegal venues may have a sentence of up to five years in jail and a penalty. Besides, those who allow the presence of people under 18, will be subject to two years of prison and a penalty.