Brazil is when again mulling gambling legalization, lawmakers into the cash-strapped country within the midst of economic devastation scrambling to find ways to fund the government without placing extra tariffs on residents.

The Brazilian Senate Commission for Regional Development and Tourism voted this week in favor of Bill 186 of 2014, legislation that would authorize up to 35 land-based gambling enterprises and invite gambling enterprises to commence operations online.

Gambling enterprises happen prohibited in the country since 1946.

Illegal gambling in Brazil is estimated to be a nearly $5 billion yearly industry, and legislators affirm tapping into that market will become necessary to offset a dismal economic year for the country. Moody Investors Service recently downgraded Brazil to ‘Junk Status’ citing an economy that is rapidly deteriorating ‘worsening governability.’

Public Advice

Legalizing gambling and Web casinos appears to be considered a viable solution to make up at part that is least of the mounting budget deficit. Persuading residents to get behind gambling might be a more task that is difficult in other countries.

Brazilians gambling that is associate corruption, many believing the venues become nothing more than utilities from criminal syndicates to meet and exchange monies.

‘ You talk about gaming and people think about fraud, money laundering, addiction and mafia,’ Sao Paulo lawyer Luiz Felipe Maia told Reuters.

Neymar Jr, the country’s most famed soccer star of late, signed a sponsorship deal with PokerStars in 2015. That might help replace the general opinion of poker and gambling one of the newer generation.

Then again, it may not.

Brazil is currently going after Neymar on claims of tax evasion. Judge Carlos Muta affirmed in September that the athlete owes Brasilia almost $16 million in taxes stemming from 2011 to 2013.

Too Little Far Too Late

It is not difficult to understand Moody’s labeling of ‘worsening governability’ in Brazil, the globe’s fifth-largest nation by area. Deciding to potentially legalize gambling now comes at a fairly strange and perhaps baffling time.

Less than eighteen months ago, the nation played host to the most active and profitable event that is sporting the world: the planet Cup.

The 2014 month-long tournament generated an estimated $130 billion in legal and illegal bets around the globe. Brazil profited zero bucks on that colossal pot.

Of course, Brazil comes with another spectacle that is international its way by way of the 2016 Summer Olympics. However, hosting the wintertime or Summer Games tends to place strains that are financial presenting countries.

‘They have governmental and difficulties that are economic’ International Olympic Committee Vice President Craig Reedie said recently to the Associated Press. ‘They have challenges. I think they and we will have to get through it.’

Now that Bill 186 has passed away committee, the proposition shall head to the Senate’s general installation. Then off to President Dilma Rousseff’s desk for her signature, assuming she isn’t impeached before its arrival if approved, it would next make its way to the House of Representatives for endorsement and.

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