Gaming venue "Winfil" does not have yet a license from Porto Alegre city

The establishment is being set up at the intersection of Cavalhada and Eduardo Prado avenues, in Porto Alegre city. The building was closed four years ago and rented in June. Winfil will have a capacity for 1,500 people, and also includes a restaurant for 120 seats and free parking. According to the venue owners, two hundred employees will be involved in attending the people, with a schedule to operate 24 hours, uninterruptedly, with 460 slot machines and 40 different gaming options.

The possible offense of the city may be accompanied by the Civil Police. While the company responsible for Winfil understands that the activity is no longer illegal, the Civil Police Chief and the State Public Prosecutor's Office guarantee that the exploitation of gambling is a contravention, subject to a conviction of up to one year in prison and a fine between R$ 2,000 and R$ 200,000.

The company bets on the legality of the activity – with plans to open eight establishments of this kind in Greater Porto Alegre - because decisions of the Criminal Appeals Court of the Special Criminal Courts of the RS have been acquitted in first degree for the exploitation of games of chance in Rio Grande do Sul. The understanding has been that gaming does not characterize an illicit conduct, and punishment to those who exploit it violates the Constitution. But at the same time, judges are keen on preserving the right of the authorities to close down establishments.

In a judgment of the Court of Appeal of November 2015, it states: "... legitimate action by the State in the cessation of activity, which only loses its criminal character, but preserves, in all its extension and attributes, the character of power legitimate police, where also legal appearances of cessation of activity, the prohibition of establishment and, in particular, the seizure of equipment that translate into a means of exercising the exploitation of gambling."

Decisions at the state level have been contested by the Rio Grande do Sul Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) in the Federal Supreme Court (STF), which until October 2016 was receiving appeals, confirming that gambling is a criminal contravention. In an appeal by the MP that arrived at the STF and was under the report of Luiz Fux, the ministers recognized the general repercussion in the cases and now await the judgment by the Court. The STF plenary will still decide whether or not gambling is illegal, and that result will be the rule for the entire country, but there is no set date yet for the judgment.

Counterpoint

What Laerte Luís Gschwenter, Winfil's lawyer, says:

About the license:
""All necessary documentation and administrative formalities have been submitted. The company is strictly up to date. We’ll comply with the law and we want everyone involved to do so."

About the legislation:
"Public Ministry’s thesis is wrong and outdated. There are judgments in Rio Grande do Sul ruling out the atypical conduct. Today, in Rio Grande do Sul, there is an understanding that the game is not a contravention.”

On the possibility of the police closing the venue:
"Is this the priority of the police in the State? To combat what is not crime in a procedure that will then be filed in court? Or is it to combat drug trafficking, crimes against life, and factions that keep growing?"

Source: GMB / Zero Hour