The complaint is authored by the Humanist Solidarity Party (PHS) and aims to suspend Article 50 of Decree-Law No. 3.688 / 1941 (Criminal Offenses Act), and Decree-Law No. 9.215 / 1946. The rules, according to the party, violate the constitutional principles of freedom, free enterprise, free competition and proportionality, and created a favorable market reserve for lotteries administered by the Caixa Econômica Federal.
In a demonstration filed on Wednesday (24/04) in the Supreme Court, the Attorney General's Office (AGU) recalls that the Federal Constitution gives the Union the exclusive power to legislate on consortiums and draws, such as Provisional Measure 168, published in 2004 to prohibit all forms of bingo and also of slot machines.
According to the AGU, the normative acts that limit the practice of gambling are justified mainly in the protection of public health. And AGU also refutes the argument that the prohibition of gambling in Brazil would violate free enterprise or economic freedom. According to the institution, the constitutional guarantees do not prevent the state interventions in the economy, in the hypotheses of preserving the interest of the collectivity.
In addition, the AGU stresses that the party does not observe the dangers that would be generated by the virtually unrestricted release of the exploitation of games of chance, whose social impact would be difficult to measure. The Arbitration of Non-Compliance with Fundamental Precept No. 563 has not yet a date to be judged and is under the rapporteur of the Minister Edson Fachin.
The head of the AGU aligns, among others, the following arguments:
- "Gambling is responsible for the creation of various vulnerabilities, which demand different levels of state vigilance. In this sense, for example, the Civil Code contemplates prodigality with cause of incapacity, while the Protection of Children and Adolescents prohibits the presence of minors in environments where bets occur.
The caution inherent in normative acts that limit the practice of gambling is justified mainly in the interest of protecting public health. There are a number of pathological conditions associated with gambling addiction, some of which are listed in the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, such as pathological gambling (CID 10, code F63.0) and gambling and betting craze (CID 10, code Z72.6)."
- "As historically the economic exploitation of this activity has caused innumerable social inconveniences, it is legitimate for the State to avail itself of several options for its legal control, through interventions of different intensities, which may contemplate, in the limit, the own practice, without it being possible to speak of non-observance of the principle of offense, as it is alleged."
- "Contrary to what is also supported in the original petition, the current normative model prohibiting the exploitation of games of chance does not represent any violation of free initiative or economic freedom, since there is no net constitutional right to unrestricted economic exploitation activities that are detrimental to public interests."
- "In addition to the fact that there is no plausibility in the allegations of violation of economic freedom or free competition, it is even less credible the allegation of the initial one that imputs to the norms challenged a supposed breach of isonomy, given the differentiation it establishes in the treatment of the State and individuals."
Source: GMB
