The Solidariedade party has filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Federal Court against the so-called Bets Law, which regulates online sports betting. This direct action of unconstitutionality is the second against the regulation. The party cites recent studies showing the exponential increase in family indebtedness and the risk behavior associated with compulsive gambling.
Last week, the National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC) also filed a lawsuit. The case's rapporteur, Minister Luiz Fux, has called for a public hearing on the 11th to provide technical arguments to support the analysis of the cases.
In the lawsuit, Solidariedade cites recent studies that demonstrate the exponential increase in family indebtedness and the risk behavior associated with compulsive gambling.
The party also points out the decrease in families' purchasing power and income circulation, including the allocation of resources from social programs to financially vulnerable people, such as Bolsa Família.
For the party, the Bets Law (Law 14.790/2023) violates constitutional principles related to the protection of human dignity, the social value of work, free enterprise, and the right to health. With information from the STF press office.
As the party argued, granting the requested precautionary measure is "absolutely essential to prevent Brazilian society from being further impacted by the severe negative consequences affecting the domestic economy", as well as affecting the mental health of bettors and their families.
"Therefore, the absence of a precautionary judicial provision, with the delay in the natural course of the process until the judgment on the merits, will certainly cause incalculable and irreparable economic and social losses, current and future", it states.
The party also mentions that a report released by the Central Bank, last Tuesday (24/9), revealed that Bolsa Família beneficiaries spent R$ 3 billion on sports betting sites, just in the month of August. According to the BC, this amount represents 21.2% of the resources distributed by the program in the same month.
Thus, it requested the STF to grant a precautionary measure to declare the unconstitutionality of Law 14.790/23, thereby suspending the conduct of online betting games in Brazilian territory. Finally, it also requested, as a precaution, the distribution of the ADI to Minister Luiz Fux, who is also the rapporteur of ADI 7.721.
Fux has called for a public hearing on November 11 to discuss the regulation of bets and other online gambling games in Brazil.
The minister is also the rapporteur of ADI 7.640, a lawsuit filed by the governors of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Acre, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, and the Federal District against sections of the Bets Law. The governors challenge a specific norm that restricts the same economic group from obtaining a concession to operate lottery services in more than one state.
Source: GMB
