LOTERJ denounced fraud in the accreditation process of an illegal betting website. 

A public civil action filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro stems from a complaint made by the Rio de Janeiro State Lottery (LOTERJ) itself. The agency identified the fraudulent use of a document falsely attributed to the institution and alerted the authorities before any third party did.

The lawsuit, registered under number 3006816-31.2026.8.19.0001, revolves around the alleged circulation of a false "Proof of Concept Approval Certificate (POC)". The document was allegedly used to convince third parties that a company had been approved in the LOTERJ accreditation process and was authorized to operate fixed-odds betting in the State of Rio de Janeiro. The regulatory body is categorical: this authorization never existed.

Internal procedure prior to legal action.

Upon learning of the fraud, LOTERJ did not wait for external provocation. The agency initiated its own administrative procedure, filed a formal criminal complaint, and forwarded all the collected documentation to the Public Prosecutor's Office. Based on this material, the Public Prosecutor's Office opened a Civil Inquiry and subsequently filed the lawsuit.

Due to its direct institutional interest in the case, LOTERJ was admitted to the proceedings as an assistant, monitoring the judicial progress of the dispute.

The local authority's position on the document.

LOTERJ reaffirms that the circulating document is false and does not form part of any official procedure of the agency. This position reflects the entity's concern for the integrity of the regulated betting market in Rio de Janeiro, which has been expanding with the increasing accreditation of operators.

This case exposes a recurring risk in regulated markets undergoing consolidation: attempts to exploit the credibility of regulatory bodies through forged documents to gain commercial advantages or access to markets without complying with legal requirements. LOTERJ has reinforced its commitment to monitoring and combating practices that threaten the legality of the sector.