Municipal Lottery EPTV/Reproduction The Full Court of Justice of Rio Grande do Norte (TJRN) declared unconstitutional the municipal law that created the Municipal Lottery Public Service in Itajá, in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte. The law authorized the exploitation, directly or indirectly, of lottery modalities provided for in federal legislation. The TJ's decision deemed three articles (1st, 2nd and 3rd) unconstitutional. The decision was made in an action filed by the Attorney General's Office (PGJ). ? Click here to follow the g1 RN channel on WhatsApp g1 was unable to contact Itajá city hall by phone to comment on the case, but was awaiting a response by email until the most recent update of this report. In the action, the PGJ argued that the municipality usurped the Union's exclusive competence to legislate on consortium and lottery systems, among other arguments. ?? Since the federal government regularized fixed-odd betting in December 2023, more than 70 Brazilian municipalities have approved laws to create their own lotteries with online casinos. This movement, however, is considered irregular by the federal government. The only one that came into operation in Brazil was Bodó, also in RN, but it ended up being suspended. City halls approve laws to create more than 70 municipal lotteries Decision In the decision, the judges clarified that the Federal Supreme Court (STF) recognized the possibility of exploring lottery activities by states given the residual material competence provided for in article 25, § 1, of the Federal Constitution - which deals with what is not expressly prohibited - but that the decision does not extend to municipalities. “This conclusion does not extend to Municipalities, whose competences are strictly delimited by article 30 of the Constitution”, explained the rapporteur of the direct unconstitutionality action, judge Amílcar Maia. The judge also highlighted that the exploration and regulation of lottery activities do not constitute a matter of local interest. According to Amílcar Maia, by creating a public lottery service, defining operating methods and authorizing the delegation of the activity to individuals, the law invades the normative field reserved for the Union. Thus, municipal legislation is not limited to the internal administrative organization. “The activity has an economic, regulatory and supervisory dimension that goes beyond the territorial limits of the Municipality, requiring regulatory uniformity and centralized state control”, added the rapporteur. Most watched videos on g1 RN