The webinar “The Rules of Gaming”, held by the Federal District OAB's Gaming Law Commission addressed the first year of the Federal Supreme Court's decision to end the Union's monopoly on lottery exploitation, giving Brazilian states autonomy for the local operation of lottery modalities.
The guest of honor at the meeting was Minister Gilmar Mendes, who reported to the STF the ADIN that ended the monopoly and, in the introduction, he demonstrated how much he studied the topic to prepare his report, which was unanimously voted by his peers in the Court. “The understanding was clear. The Union's monopoly could not prevent states from exercising lottery modalities, a public service aimed at raising funds for social application. It is up to the Union to regulate the matter and give guidelines for the lottery policy for Brazil, but it is not up to it to carry out the single exploration. The states are the direct agents in meeting the community's social concerns and they are more than capable of exploiting lotteries, just as the Union does through Caixa Econômica Federal.”
The meeting was mediated by Sérgio Garcia Alves, President of the OAB/DF Gaming Law Commission and was attended by Mirian Lavocat, VP of the Commission and President of the OAB/DF Tax Reform Commission, and Izabel Vinchon, General Secretary of Litigation of the Attorney General of the Union (AGU), in addition to Gilmar Mendes.
At the opening of the webinar, Sérgio Alves highlighted the important decision of the Federal Supreme Court, allowing States to explore lotteries as a way to give them the necessary autonomy to apply resources in the social area.
“With the decision, the States started to look for ways to materialize the decision and we see the movement they have made towards creating the necessary conditions to implement their lotteries. Some have already approved projects in this regard and others are in the phase of feasibility studies and publication of notices to establish partnerships with the private sector. In addition, four States that already have lotteries (Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Ceará and Paraíba) and are seeking to expand the offer of lottery products, which will be of great value to their economies.”
Minister Gilmar Mendes took the floor to highlight the right decision to allow the States to explore lottery modalities regulated by the federal government, recalling that in deciding for this, he respected federalism and state autonomy. “It is not only up to the Union to operate lotteries and healthy competition with the States will enhance the activity and encourage free competition,” he commented.
Izabel Vinchon, from AGU, presented the attributions of the body she represents and whose primary function is to defend legal compliance in the country, said the understanding that the States will explore the activity is already common ground and that it will be up to the Union to define the rules of new lottery modalities and all the issues related to what is incumbent on the process, such as the regulation of such games, is already in place, but he stressed that it is not up to the understanding of some municipalities that they can also materialize lottery exploitation in a regional manner.
Some cities have joined the same pace of seeking to regulate lottery games and the clearest examples are Guarulhos, in São Paulo, and Colatina, in Espírito Santo, which are already in more advanced stages.
Attendees and even the audience spoke out about the creation of municipal lotteries, such as Roberto Brasil Fernandes, the country's lawyer and leading expert on lotteries, who had already told Games Magazine Brasil that municipalities cannot legislate or operate lottery modalities.
Source: GMB
