At the Commercial Registry, the business expansion was certified on November 24, 2017, but only now the information comes to the public. Prior to that, in August last year, Winfil had already regularized a branch in São Paulo, which increased the number of branches to 14, as well as the porto-alegrense matrix.
Although formally registered in the state bureaucracy, the expansion of gaming houses has not yet gone off the paper. At the moment, the unit of the south zone of Porto Alegre continues as the only one in operation, open to the public.
“The idea is to await the decision of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) on whether or not to maintain gaming as a criminal contravention. We believe that the trial will take place in plenary in March. After that, having a release, we’ll schedule the expansion of the venues. It is a question of security in the investment. Without the regulation of the market, we already have 11 processes,” says Laerte Luis Gschwenter, attorney of Winfil.
He says that the first installment of the growth plan should generate investment between US$750,000 and US$1.5 million, generating 417 jobs.
In the State, the expansion planning starts from the Capital and reaches the valleys of the Sinos and Taquari, Serra and North Coast. Two new venues were registered in Porto Alegre, three in São Leopoldo, one in Novo Hamburgo, one in Cinela, one in Gramado, one in Lajeado and the other in Capão da Canoa. Since its launch, Winfil projects to make Rio Grande do Sul the birthplace of the resumption of the gaming activity in Brazil.
The house operates with slot machines.
Gambling remains banned in Brazil, characterized as a criminal contravention. Even so, Winfil decided to open its business publicly. The house was the target of two operations of the Civil Police, one of them in partnership with the Public Prosecutor's Office, occasions in which seizures of electronic components, money and a scraped numbered firearm occurred. After the offensives, the house again opened the doors, receiving bets in money.
In Congress, Bill Senator Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI) is introducing a bill that proposes the unrestricted release of activity in the country, including slots, bingo, jogo do bicho and casino. In the agenda of the Supreme Court, appeals are being considered that question the constitutionality of maintaining the characterization of gaming as a criminal contravention, but there is no date for the trial to take place. As the general repercussion of the case was declared, the decision of the Supreme Court should be followed by courts throughout the country.
Source: GMB / Zero Hora
