Lottopar, the authority that approved five sports betting houses (Apostau, BPlay, Aposta.La, Pixbet and NossaBet), wants to prevent Loterj from continuing to operate sports betting throughout Brazil, claiming that the operations take place in Rio de Janeiro. With the consent of bettors, who must fill out a specific form to comply with Loterj's understanding, this has caused bets generated throughout Brazil to enter Loterj's servers.
In Lottopar's understanding pointed out in the action, since Loterj launched the notice for accreditation of companies to operate sports betting, it defined that such an operation would be within the scope of the territory of Rio de Janeiro.
“The notice in question, in its original version, guaranteed that only bettors physically located in Rio de Janeiro could place bets on the sites that would become accredited”, points out Lottopar in the initial statement.
Currently, the companies Apostau.com, Bestbet, Marjosports and Pixbet are accredited in Rio de Janeiro, with national operations. Three others are currently undergoing accreditation: 1XBet, Lema and Laguna. And accreditation remains open until the end of March.
The Paraná municipality questions the review of the Rio de Janeiro notice, which defined, regarding the technical qualifications of the accredited operator:
“It has a system that guarantees, upon prior and express declaration and consent of the bettor, that the execution of online bets will always be considered carried out in the territory of the State of Rio de Janeiro, for all purposes and purposes, including tax and legal;”
Lottopar also points out the fact that the notice requires that the platform used by the operator ensures prior and express declaration and consent from the bettor that the placing of online bets will always be considered to have taken place in Rio de Janeiro.
In the action, the Paraná municipality also cites Loterj's Proof of Concept (PoC) requiring proof that the system meets this requirement for the purposes of platform approval.
“In other words, LOTERJ created, through a mere notice, a legal fiction of territoriality: the bettor can place a bet in any part of the national territory, simply by declaring that he agrees that the implementation of online bets will always be considered carried out in the territory of the State of Rio de Janeiro”.
In the action, Lottopar points out that art. 35-A of Law 14,790, which regulates sports betting in Brazil, the States and the Federal District are authorized to explore, within their territories, only the lottery modalities provided for in federal legislation. “Such a device, as can be seen, already incorporated the principle of territoriality”, states Lottopar.
Lottopar requests, in the action, “that it is necessary to invalidate the new items 7.1.6.2. “e”, 8.9 and 9.2.1.5., “c”, iv - wording given by the Rectification of Accreditation Notice nº 1/2023, and its correlates in the Term of Reference, and impose on those accredited by LOTERJ to prevent, by technological means appropriate territorial blocking, online betting by users who are outside the territorial limits of Rio de Janeiro."
Lottopar argues:
“This exploitation throughout the national territory causes harm to the Union and other States, as it diverts potential bettors, and, with it, the resources derived from the lottery, to the State of Rio de Janeiro. It will not be idle to say that the lottery, supposed to be an inappropriate public service because it arises only from its legal qualification, and not from its nature, generates important resources for federated entities to develop public policies, of primary public interest.”
After listing the allocation of resources generated by sports betting in Paraná, Lottopar declares:
“Therefore, the anti-federative act being questioned is already causing damage to federative entities, especially the public policies they develop. Which, considering the probability of the law, authorizes the granting of urgent relief of an anticipatory nature.”
Source: GMB
