G3 MARKET INSIGHT LATIN AMERICA
unknown,” (source: the Brazilian Senate News Agency).
To a certain extent his wish was granted in that casinos saw fewer tourists. The ban meant a complete change of policy and Brazil losing out on vast amounts of gambling tax revenue, not to mention the tourism income lost as a result. Today, Brazil still massively underperforms as a tourist destination.
Currently, it’s not just Catholic opposition but the increasingly powerful Evangelical movement that blocks regulation, meaning that outdated views of gambling still hold sway. In May 2018, Brazil’s Tourism Minister, Bob Santos, criticised the opposition of religious leaders to government efforts to regulate the market. Santos said that there was a lack of knowledge within the religious caucus about legalising gambling in Brazil. “The National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) and the Evangelical caucus are very concerned about gambling, but many countries in Europe, North America and
Asia have special policies, which reinvest part of their (tax) collection in the treatment for that ailment (gambling addiction),” he said.
Crucially, Bolsonaro was heavily backed by evangelical leaders, most notably billionaire Bishop Edir Macedo, head of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and one of the main evangelical figures in Brazil. The power of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is far reaching. It owns the multi-billion television company, RecordTV (Brazil’s second-largest channel by geographical reach and audience), which is used in turn to push the evangelical agenda as part of its vast media empire.
Wisely, Bolsonaro during the election remained pretty much on the fence apart from one occasion, when he came out against casinos. However, he sided in favour of legalising gambling in casinos during a meeting with Deputy Newton Cardoso Jr, President of the Tourism Commission of the Chamber of Deputies in August 2019, arguing that
ultimately it should be down to each state to set its own gambling laws.
In November 2019, Bolsonaro launched a new evangelical-type political party called the Alliance for Brazil, a hard-right political movement, with a strong conservative religious agenda. Bolsonaro is less popular now with the evangelical bench than he was at the beginning of his term in office. Bolsonaro's approval rating has also plummeted due to his handling of the pandemic, according to recent polls. Either way evangelical voters will be crucial when it comes to any gambling policy coming from the executive branch in the future.
Pressure is mounting to allow for an expansion of gambling, especially in integrated resort hotels. In November 2019, representatives of the conservative block known as Centrão resumed a campaign to allow for the opening of casinos in the country. Bolsonaro was asked if he would support any bill that would give casinos the go ahead, but said that he would
P24 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
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