The Group led by Roosevelt Matias de Santana, of Portuguese descent and heir to an adoptive father with notoriety in the gaming universe, plans to acquire the Tambaú Hotel to convert it into a casino, thus consolidating the legalization of this activity in Brazil.
Abandoned for three years, the former Tambaú Hotel is far from its glorious past when it was a symbol of national architecture and the hospitality sector. Now, its internal structure looks more like a war zone, filled with debris, garbage, and stagnant water conducive to the proliferation of the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
The images reveal the state of abandonment of the site, which has become a concerning breeding ground for the dengue-transmitting mosquito amidst an explosion of cases of the disease in Paraíba.
Once the scene of luxurious parties and a destination for tourists from around the world, the hotel's spacious areas now resemble a ghost town, overrun by garbage and stagnant water.
The hotel was at the center of a legal dispute between two groups: Rui Galdino, a Paraíban lawyer who won an auction in 2020, and the Arnaldo Gaspar Group, winner of an auction in 2021. The situation was litigated due to allegations of irregularities in both cases.
In 2021, a court decision confirmed Rui Galdino as the auction winner, and the site was acquired for R$ 40 million. In February of this year, the mayor of João Pessoa, Cícero Lucena (Progressistas), announced that the municipality will take measures to expropriate the Tambaú Hotel if the current owner does not take steps to revitalize the site, according to a municipal decree from 2020.