The decision to block sports betting and online gaming websites originated from a lawsuit filed by the Rio de Janeiro State Lottery asking Anatel to block all websites without a Loterj license. In his initial decision, federal judge Pablo Zuniga ordered Anatel to verify the legitimacy of the betting houses' operations and, after receiving a response from Loterj that more than 300 websites were operating without a license from the agency, ordered Anatel to notify internet providers that all websites should be blocked.
In the decision published last Friday (26), Zuniga said that he had verified, based on documents attached to the lawsuit, that the blocking may have affected other companies that comply with Loterj's rules and affected access in other Brazilian states.
The judge ordered Anatel to respond within five days regarding its compliance with the decision that resulted in the blocking. He also warned the agency not to go beyond the limits of Rio de Janeiro. “Anatel is hereby warned that compliance with the court decision must be limited to its exact terms and cannot go beyond the limits of the State of Rio de Janeiro.”
In complying with the decision, Anatel claimed that internet service providers have been encountering technical difficulties in limiting the blockade to Rio de Janeiro alone, as requested by Loterj.
Sports betting and online gaming companies, as well as the two main entities that represent them – the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR) – believe that the blockade goes against the law that regulates the activity in Brazil, since it was defined in one of the ordinances of the Prizes and Bets Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance that operating companies have until December 31 to obtain their licenses.
Source: GMB
