Lula reacted by banning bingo halls in order to head off a congressional probe. It was estimated that between 120,000 and 320,000 gaming employees were put out of work by the February 2004 decree. “For eight years, the PT investigated
everything under the sun,” said
Congresswoman
Zulaie Cobra, a Social Democrat. "Now that they are in power, they want to sweep these allegations under the rug.”