The Paraíba Court of Justice (TJPB) upheld the decision to take Pixbet and two other sites under the brand, Flabet and Bet da Sorte, offline, after reviewing the company’s appeal.
The Court suspends Pixbet and its platforms due to a lawsuit against the brand alleging failures in responsible gambling mechanisms regarding blocking children and adolescents from accessing and registering on betting sites.
Why was Pixbet suspended?
Initially filed with the Children and Youth Court of the Campina Grande District, the lawsuit was brought by Father Júlio Lancellotti and two human rights organizations.
Both the Padre Ezequiel Ramin Human Rights Defense Center and the Francisco de Assis Association: Education, Citizenship, Inclusion and Human Rights, together with Lancellotti, formally filed the request with the Court due to failures in preventing minors’ access.
By law, all licensed betting sites must require, for registration, a CPF and biometric verification in accordance with the country’s official information databases.
In addition, facial recognition is required every time the user makes a deposit or withdrawal request on the betting site.
And, one of the most important aspects is the automatic blocking of a CPF identified as belonging to a minor.
However, the Court suspends Pixbet precisely because the betting site shows failures in these three responsible gambling requirements and in combating access by children and adolescents.
R$100,000 daily fine
Another aspect pointed out in the initial ruling was the fact that, according to the judge on the case, Pixbet uses communication on its sites that appeals to underage audiences.
This would go against the provisions set out in the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA) and the Betting Law.
The Court suspends Pixbet, but also sets a daily fine of R$100,000, with a cap of R$100 million.
To resume operations, the company must prove that it has security mechanisms implemented on its platforms, such as facial recognition and liveness verification, biometric verification, and automatic blocking of minors’ CPF.