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The state lottery authority of Rio de Janeiro has come out swinging against an injunction imposed by Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court to prevent state-licensed online betting operators from accepting wagers beyond Rio’s borders.

As reported by BNLData, Rio lottery LOTERJ on Friday (January 3) filed two legal petitions against the injunction, calling for the current terms of licences awarded to nearly two dozen operators to be respected until the case filed by Brazil’s federal government is ruled upon on its merits.

LOTERJ is seeking urgent consideration of its appeal, given the lottery had just five days to introduce geolocation requirements for the Rio market.

In a statement expressing disappointment with the initial injunction, LOTERJ said its licensing regime complied with Brazilian federal laws on online betting and e-commerce more generally.

“An eventual invalidation of the legal acts that accredited the operators would require compensation of millions of reals, loss of significant tax revenue for the federal government itself, and the disruption of an entire regulated economic sector,” LOTERJ added.

The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld a district court ruling that Pace-O-Matic (POM) lacks standing to bring its lawsuit because the company cannot show its business would be harmed by a determination by gaming regulators that skill-game devices are unlawful.

POM argued that a letter from Don Brownlee, director of the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission (KRGC), to law enforcement officials constituted a threat to its “Dragon’s Ascent” game that has been distributed state-wide in businesses who have partnered with the company.

Brownlee wrote that KRGC agents had played “Dragon’s Assent” and believed that the skill element was not sufficient to eliminate the impact that chance has on the game. 

The state's Supreme Court upheld a district court’s dismissal of claims by POM of Kansas, a subsidiary of Georgia-based POM, that the machines do not fit into the state’s definition of gambling machines.

The Kansas Reflector reported that in its original 2019 lawsuit, POM of Kansas sought a court order that the unregulated Dragon’s Ascent machine complied with state laws because it was a contest of skill. The company argued its machines were different from slot machines which are regulated games of chance. 

The justices also vacated a district court ruling that rejected claims the state’s criminal gambling statutes were unconstitutionally vague because there was no provision giving companies fair notice on whether a device was considered a game of chance or skill, according to the .