Following court ruling, Winfil started accepting cash bets in Porto Alegre

After a court ruling banning police from seizing their machines, the Winfil entertainment house, located in the southern zone of Porto Alegre, announced that it has started to operate with money bets from Saturday (28).

Open since the 19th, the place was working only with a "tasting" of games, without betting. In a press release, Rogério Dell'Erba Guarnieri, a partner in the establishment, said that they were "more than 14 years defending in court the legalization of the business in the country."

"We always said that we would only open if we were 100% legal and this moment arrived. During the period in which we worked without income, we were able to preserve the jobs of all contracted employees," he said in the statement.

Late Saturday, Winfil's lawyer, Laerte Luis Gschwenter, celebrated the rule and said the decision to open the house for bets could come out of a meeting, which was held at 5 pm.

In an interview with GaúchaZH, however, Judge Túlio Martins, president of the communications council of the Rio Grande do Sul Court of Justice, said that the decision does not authorize the house to promote games of chance with cash bets.

"What the judge has forbidden is that the equipment be seized. The request of the security order is so that, when there is any operation there, there is no apprehension. And that was what the judge conceded. Only that. The judge did not authorize gamling,” assures Martins.