On Wednesday (31), the Federal Court denied Betano‘s request to resume its activities in Rio de Janeiro. The company had argued that an injunction on July 19 would allow the suspension of the blockade imposed by the Lotteries of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
However, federal judge Rodrigo de Godoy Mendes, from the 7th Court of Brasília, rejected this interpretation.
Understand the case of Betano’s blocking
Kaizen Gaming Brasil Ltda., operator of Betano in Brazil, filed a request for an injunction to protect itself from future blocks by Loterj (Rio de Janeiro Lottery). This order preceded the removal of more than 100 unlicensed bookmakers, which began on July 23.
The company also requested the suspension of the administrative sanctioning process, initiated by Loterj to punish companies outside the state rules. On July 19, the Court partially granted the injunction, suspending the administrative process, but maintaining the blockade.
Betano argued that the suspension of the administrative process justified the reestablishment of access to its website. This was the point contested by judge Rodrigo de Godoy Mendes on Wednesday.
Judicial decision
The judge declared that Betano’s argument was unfounded and that, if the company believed there was non-compliance with the previous decision, it should appeal.
“The other allegations in the aforementioned petition, in my opinion, are already sufficiently clarified in the court decision and the petitioner, if it so wishes, should raise objections through a possible appeal”, wrote the judge.
Even so, the judge ordered Loterj to be summoned to comment on the alleged non-compliance. “The defendant party must be summoned urgently to express their opinion regarding the alleged disobedience, within 5 (five) days”, stated Rodrigo de Godoy Mendes.
The blocking of Betano and other companies
The sanction was applied by Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) on July 23, following a court order at the request of Loterj. The blockade affected at least 115 companies in the sector.
At the end of June, Loterj obtained a court decision to take betting sites without official registration in RJ offline. Therefore, the authority was based on a state decree on betting regulation, published before the approval of the law that regulates sports betting in Brazil (Law 14,790 of 2023).
The law establishes that, in Rio de Janeiro, supervision of the sector is the responsibility of Loterj. At the time, Provisional Measure 1,182 of 2023 was in force, which dealt with the matter. Thus, both the law and the MP determined that the Treasury is responsible for supervising these companies and granting new licenses.
“Fixed odds bets will be operated in a competitive environment, subject to prior authorization to be issued by the Ministry of Finance, in accordance with this Law and the regulations referred to in § 3 of art. 29 of Law No. 13,756, of December 12, 2018.”, says Article 4 of Law 14,790 of 2023.
Criticism on the blocking
Thus, ANJL (National Association of Games and Lotteries), which represents 17 betting houses, told Poder360 that Loterj’s position contradicts the law that regulates the sector in the country.
“The determination to suspend the sites occurred without the companies ever being heard either in the judicial process or by Anatel, at a stage in which the market is under a regulatory process in Brazil, with a transition period guaranteed nationally to operators until December this year”, says a spokesperson for the entity.
