The possibility of the legalisation of gambling has raised its head in Brazil.
President Dilma Rousseff wants to sort out the country’s budget deficit, but legislators have criticised plans to do so by raising taxes on financial transactions. Now this has led her to propose an alternative plan: legalising gambling.
Gambling isn’t entirely outlawed in Brazil, but the options available are currently limited. Horse racing exists and federal lotteries are popular in the country, but Brazil hasn’t allowed casinos since 1946 and even bingo halls have been outlawed in the past decade.
Many Brazilians associate casinos with corruption, a link that became more ingrained in the public consciousness because of political scandals such as the 2012 conviction of an aide to a former president who asked for bribes from an illegal lottery operator back in 2004.
