Court overrides Caixa and keeps lottery intermediary's website online.
The Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF-3) rejected a request from Caixa Econômica Federal and kept the Sorte Online website online, one of the main intermediaries for lottery bets in the country. The sector operates with the approval of the Ministry of Finance and the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade), reveals a note from the Estadão Column.
Contacted by the Estadão newspaper, Caixa stated that it does not comment on ongoing legal proceedings. Sorte Online did not respond.
Caixa (the Brazilian bank) filed a lawsuit alleging that the private platform was illegally exploiting lottery games. Initially, it obtained a ruling to take the Sorte Online website offline, but this decision has now been overturned.
In the process, Sorte Online stated that it acts on behalf of its clients before the state-owned bank and directs bettors to Caixa itself, since the bets are registered at lottery outlets. The company has been in the market for 21 years and is part of a sector that has a favorable opinion from the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets of the Ministry of Finance. The company also said that it offers conveniences, such as organizing bets, checking results, and offering mega-group bets, without drawing numbers or paying prizes.
According to Federal Judge Wilson Zauhy, it is "evident" that the monetization of Sorte Online "does not occur on the bets themselves, but rather on the intermediary service it provides, allowing its clients to place bets on games and raffles" at lottery outlets accredited by Caixa Econômica Federal. The TRF-3 decision was signed on the 8th of this month.
Judge cited CADE's opinion against Caixa.
In the decision, the judge mentioned that CADE (Brazil's antitrust agency) recognized the legality of the intermediation activity in the lottery market, which is regulated by the Ministry of Finance, and not by Caixa Econômica Federal (Brazil's state-owned bank). The opinion is part of an investigation by the antitrust agency that, last February, progressed and became an administrative process.
When it sued the state-owned bank, CADE (Brazil's antitrust authority) pointed to "strong indications" that Caixa Econômica Federal (a Brazilian state-owned bank) was acting abusively to prevent lottery outlets from entering into contracts with intermediaries. The board also stated that the bank adopts "administrative/extrajudicial measures that have the sole objective of making the provision of lottery intermediation services unfeasible."
