Rio de Janeiro announces temporary halt to lottery services

Rio de Janeiro’s state lottery service, Loteria do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (LOTERJ), has announce a suspension to its services until 28 March due to the ongoing COVID-19 global outbreak. 

The decision, which has been made by the Secretary of State for Economic Development, Energy and International Relations, will see LOTERJ only run its lottery prizes payment service, however, this will only be made accessible to users who have previously scheduled by phone or email. 

In addition to the suspension of the state lottery service, instant lottery win tickets, as well as all of LOTERJ’s ongoing administrative deadlines, have also been suspended. 

As a result of its suspension, LOTERJ has become the latest Latin American lottery to halt play with the aim of slowing down the spread of Coronavirus. It now joins the likes of the National Charity Lottery (LNB) of El Salvador and the National Lottery of the Dominican Republic to temporarily halt services, while the National Lottery of Panama has modified its normal operations in an attempt to safeguard the health of its workers.

The news of LOTERJ’s suspension follows on from last week’s investigation that was launched by the Consumer Protection and Defense Authority of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Procon RJ) into abusive business practices and misleading advertisements by the company in charge of the distribution of RJ da Sorte, Hebara Distribuidora de Produtos Lotericos which offers lottery-style bonus draws that can be exchanged for money.

Cássio Coelho, the president of Procon RJ, stated that the lawsuit was carried out following a host of complaints made by consumers and the board of directors of LOTERJ, with legal action being taken following the discovery that advertising across 16 stores was confusing and ambiguous.

Hebara has since insisted that they’re not in charge of the bonus draws and, as a result, have no legal responsibility. With this being said, the municipality has urged the organisation to release a public explanation to clarify the lottery’s methods.