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The judicial tide has turned in the case against unlicensed operators in the state of Rio de Janeiro, after a judge granted an injunction to Kambi to allow the company to stay in business without a licence.
The 27th Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro allowed the injunction after LOTERJ, Rio’s lottery regulator, filed action against Kambi for operating in the territory.
In her decision, Judge Geraldine Pinto Vital de Castro wrote that according to the constitution, “it is the exclusive responsibility of the Union to legislate on consortium and lottery systems”.
The Rio de Janeiro drama began at the end of June when a regional court ordered Brazil’s telecoms regulator ANATEL to block access to 115 online operators that were not licensed by LOTERJ.
Since then, internet providers have protested that it is not possible for them to block sites within the state alone, and that they instead would have to put in place a nationwide block.
The order from the original judge, Pablo Zúñiga, remained in effect despite these complaints, and players outside Rio de Janeiro found themselves accidentally blocked from accessing some gambling sites as a result.
Other operators outside the order also reported they had found themselves blocked by accident as well.
The judge then gave telecoms companies a deadline to repair the technical issues, which they said were impossible to fix, before finally giving up and reversing the order.
The state of Rio de Janeiro has led the charge to license online gambling operators separately from the federal government.
A key deadline for nationwide licensing passed this week, ahead of the expected issuing of licences early next year.
Rio’s attempt to forge its own path has raised more than a few eyebrows over its questionable legality and faces a serious challenge to survive at all once the federal law comes fully into effect.
It is of note that Rio’s licence fee is significantly cheaper at R$5m (US$900,000) than a federal licence R$30m ($5.5m). So far, five operators have been licensed. Of those five, Pixbet has also applied for a federal licence.
