Loterj appeals to the Supreme Court's decision to suspend national betting operations.

In the preliminary injunction, Minister André Mendonça gave five days for the interruption of bets outside the state by companies accredited by the autarchy and ordered the activation of electronic geolocation mechanisms of the bettors.

The injunction affects 25 companies, among them, sponsors of football teams. In the objections to Mendonça's injunction, Loterj argues that the decision can generate "serious potential damage to the incomes" of the State and the state lottery itself as it generates a unilateral change in a public notice, which brings the risk of restitution of fixed grants, cessation of collection of variable licenses, possible reparations for losses and damages and "various other impacts, of multimillion-dollar order".

Loterj argues that the law that regulated the bets does not require the use of geolocation and that the requirement is from a decree of the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets Ministry of Finance. Loterj claims that the law only restricts marketing "to persons physically located within the limits of their jurisdictions or to those domiciled in its territoriality" and, therefore, adopted the criterion of control through "Personal Declaration of the Bettor".

In the document, Loterj argues that the obligation of geolocation in the preliminary injunction anticipates the final claim requested by the Union. The state lottery says that geolocation services are inefficient and that the bettor from Rio de Janeiro has the right to make bets even when outside his domicile.

In a statement, Loterj regretted the decision of the STF. It stated that the notice for the accreditation of betting companies used as a parameter the domicile of the service provider, "giving the same legal-tax treatment applied to e-commerce, in strict compliance with current legislation".

Loterj also stated that the rules of the sports betting sector in its territory were a "necessary and legitimate response to the inaction of the Union itself", which did not regulate the law of bets within the established deadline. "The eventual invalidation of the legal acts that accredited the companies would imply in multimillion-dollar indemnities, significant loss of tax collection for the Union itself and de-structuring of an entire regulated economic sector", says the company.

Complete note from Loterj

"Rio de Janeiro, January 3, 2024 - The State Lottery of Rio de Janeiro (Loterj) regrets the decision of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), this Thursday (01/02), which determined the suspension of the exploitation of electronic games outside the limits of the state of Rio.

Loterj emphasizes that, in establishing the rules for such activity, it used as a parameter Article 3 of Complementary Law 116/2003, which considers the service provided at the domicile of the service provider, giving the same legal-tax treatment applied to e-commerce, in strict compliance with current legislation.

Loterj also states that its action, in regulating the sports betting sector in its territory, was a necessary and legitimate response to the inaction of the Union itself, which let the deadline established in Law 13.756/2018 pass without proper federal regulation.

Loterj also considers that this constitutional principle was expressly recognized and reinforced by Law 14.790/2023, which the Union claims is being violated.

For Loterj, the eventual invalidation of the legal acts that accredited the companies would imply in multimillion-dollar indemnities, significant loss of tax collection for the Union itself and de-structuring of an entire regulated economic sector

".

State Lottery of Rio de Janeiro (Loterj)

 

 

Source: GMB