Zona de Azar Brazil – Rio de Janeiro: Loterj Withdraws Action against Anatel and Betting Houses

Brazil – August 29, 2024 www.zonadeazar.com On August 7th, Loterj, the State Lottery of Rio de Janeiro, filed a preliminary injunction request to Anatel, the National Telecommunications Agency, aiming to block or suspend all internet service providers, thus preventing the operation of hundreds of betting houses named by Loterj in the lawsuit.

The main objective was to curb betting houses operating in the state without complying with the terms of the State of Rio de Janeiro’s Decree No. 48,806/2023. However, the request was denied in the first instance and was partially reformed due to the decision to anticipate the effects of the appeal requested by the entity.

The proposal was presented to “authorize ANATEL to verify the operational legitimacy of the companies listed in the initial filing (…), before LOTERJ and, in case of non-compliance, take appropriate measures within the limits of the State of Rio de Janeiro to suspend the activities of fixed-odds betting lotteries that are not in accordance with the applicable legislation.”

Entity Withdraws Main Action against Anatel

As a result, on August 12th, the rapporteur revoked the provisional measure from Loterj, with the decision that the betting houses have until December 31st of this year to regularize their operations. According to Demarest, on the 20th of this month, the Rio entity decided to withdraw its action against Anatel.

On August 22nd, the request for withdrawal was accepted, and the action against Loterj was dismissed for lack of standing to appeal. The appeal is still possible, as the entity can argue that the interlocutory appeal filed, previously mentioned, is pending judgment. However, given the current scenario and the dismissal of the action, for now, there will be no TRF (Federal Regional Court) review on the matter.

Edited by: @_fonta
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