Brazil: Bingos will not be able to operate with appeals for protection

It was a bad day for bingo operators that kept the bingo halls open based in appeals for protection. Workers and bettors protested against the closure of a luxury bingo hall in San Pablo.

“The lawyer acted on bad faith, according to the judge: He said they had a federal appeal for protection, a license that was withdrawn six months ago”, said the deputy mayor of the neighbourhood, Fábio Lepique, who assisted to the closure of the hall.

A long legal battle mantained the bingos open these latest years. States and owner of bingo halls bet to appeals for protection and state laws.

The Supreme Federal Court gave this Wednesday a definite interpretation of what is already in the Constitution: just the Union has competence to legislate on the gambling halls “It points a way to be watched, that is, a state assemply cannot legislate on lotteries or bingos”, said the minister of the Supreme, Marco Aurélio Mello.

The lawyer that represents the Bingo Association in Brazil says that the decision taken up this Wednesday does not eliminate the juridic problem because there is not a feredal law that bans bingos in Brazil.

In San Pablo, since the beginning of the year, at least 120 bingos were closed.