Paulo Gonet Branco filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Federal Court to annul the regulations that allow and govern the market. This would revert to the prohibition that has been in place since 1941. The highest judicial court in Brazil will have to decide, although no deadlines have been set.
Brazil.- The Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet Branco, submitted to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) against Laws No. 14.790/2023 and No. 13.756/2018, for "not meeting the minimum requirements for the preservation of goods and values of the Federal Constitution". The regulations allow the exploitation and dissemination of virtual betting systems based on sports events (sports betting) and online gambling events (virtual betting houses).
In addition to the federal laws, the action requests the unconstitutionality of the set of ordinances issued by the Ministry of Finance, through the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA), which regulate the type of counterparty betting. This modality consists of a betting system around real or virtual events where it is defined, at the time of placing the bet, how much the bettor can win in case of success.
With the declaration of unconstitutionality, Gonet asks for the legislation that recognizes betting as illegal, Decree-Law 3.688 of 1941, to be reinstated.
According to the prosecution, "the legislation is insufficient to protect the fundamental rights of consumers, given the predatory nature of the virtual betting market". It also adds that the instrument provided by the law to allow the exploitation of lotteries by the State is constitutionally inadequate.
Gonet argues in the lawsuit that the legislation on betting violates social rights to health and food, consumer rights, property rights, children and adolescents, the elderly, and people with disabilities. “It conflicts with the principles of the economic order and the domestic market and with the duty of the State to protect the family unit. Moreover, it disregards the constitutional imposition to grant public services through concession or permission, by means of bidding. It also deviates from the constitutional restrictions on advertising products that pose a high risk to health,” he claims.
As Gonet argues, Law No. 13.756/2018 established the new betting modality and allocated part of the resources, but did not regulate virtual bets. This new market emerged without criteria to protect the users of the service and the national market, a circumstance aggravated by the fact that websites and operators often have their headquarters in other countries, meaning Brazilian legislation does not apply, which complicates control and supervision, as well as taxation of the activity. Law No. 14.790/2023 aimed to reduce the negative social impacts of the new market, but it was not sufficient.
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In the action, the Attorney General's Office requests the unconstitutionality of the provisions of Law No. 14.790/2023, which deal with the fixed-odds betting modality, as well as of articles 29 to 33 of Law No. 13.756/2018, which established the new betting modality.
