The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) has filed a lawsuit to force the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (Abras) to explain the basis for a video that links the worsening of food insecurity in the country to sportsbooks.
Furthermore, ANJL asks the president of the retail sector entity, João Galassi, for explanations about the origin of the information released in a video on Abras’ social networks.
According to the betting sector, the content propagated by Abras makes use of “generalized and potentially defamatory allegations, which go beyond criticism of specific agents and affect the sector as a whole”.
In the lawsuit, ANJL says that the allegations that retailers lost 103 billion reais due to betting “lack empirical basis”.
“Official data from IBGE shows that retail registered growth of 4.7% in 2024, with no objective elements linking the sector’s performance to the regulated betting market”, he adds.
For Plínio Lemos Jorge, the retail sector decided to “select someone to blame” for the rise in food prices on families’ tables. “In their opinion, bets are responsible.”
“It’s absurd, because it spreads fake news that aims to attack a legitimate sector of the economy, which, this year alone, will generate more than 4 billion reais in taxes,” he declared.
ANJL process requests explanations on some issues
Through the interpellation, the entity representing the betting sector demands that Abras explain the following situations:
- The sources and empirical evidence that support the claims contained in the video;
- The methodology for calculating the aforementioned data, especially with regard to amounts supposedly “lost” by gamblers, spending by beneficiaries of social programs and economic losses in retail;
- Claims that the tax burden on betting would be lower than that on basic food items;
- Os critérios técnicos, estatísticos ou científicos utilizados na vinculação causal entre a atividade de apostas legalizadas e a fome ou empobrecimento de famílias brasileiras.
ANJL also reports, in the action, that it intends to use Abras’ eventual response to “subsidize future applicable legal measures, including criminal and reparatory measures. If the dissemination of false, decontextualized information or information capable of generating collective or competitive moral damage to the regulated sector is found.”
