On Friday (1 January), Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court (STF) dismissed the latest appeal filed by the Rio de Janeiro State Lottery (Loterj).
Loterj’s appeal was dismissed by STF Justice André Mendonça, who reaffirmed that the corporation must comply with the court’s judgment to suspend gambling operators who have not implemented geolocation safeguards to limit their consumers to Rio de Janeiro.
If Loterj fails to comply with the ruling within the five-day limit, it will be fined R$500,000 (€80,470) every day, plus R$50,000 for its president.
It comes after months of court fights between Loterj and the federal government over the former’s capacity to license enterprises for nationwide operations.
Mendonça pointed out: “States have the authority to operate lottery activities and to regulate such operations exclusively within their territorial limits.
And, in exercising these material and regulatory powers, States must adhere to any normative discipline set by the Union in the exercise of its exclusive powers.”
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This follows a verdict by the STF on January 2nd, which prevented Loterj from licensing operators to sell bets nationally and required them to deploy geolocation technologies to assure compliance.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGU), who first brought the case, contended that Loterj made an obvious attempt to delay compliance with the court’s judgment.
The AGU cited geofencing methods implemented by other state lotteries as an example of how to comply with the ruling.
The decision came one day after the Paraná State Attorney General told the STF that Loterj has yet to comply with the court’s order to suspend non-compliant betting businesses.
In a document given to the Supreme Court, Paraná suggested that a $50,000 daily punishment should be imposed to ensure compliance with the ruling.
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