Winfil Casino Falls Foul of Brazilian Gambling Laws

Brazil has had a casino ban in place for the past seven decades, although lawmakers in the country have seriously been exploring the possibility of overturning the law in order to raise money for government coffers.
In the meantime, Winfil casino took the bold move of opening its doors for business last week in Porto Alegre, complete with 460 free-play slot machines, in anticipation of making a quick switch to real money games in the event the country does eventually pass gambling legislation.
The Winfil casino is owned by Grupo Pefaco, a Spanish company which has its headquarters in Barcelona, and has businesses established in eight African countries, as well as the South American country of Paraguay. To all appearances, Winfil looks like a regular casino, with its huge slots area occupying much of the floor separating its bars from its restaurants.
Confusion as to the legality of gambling in the state of Rio De Grande, however, subsequently emboldened Winfil Casino to start offering real-money gambling. This move did not go down at all well, though, and after the Public Prosecutor’s office issued a statement denying the gambling ban’s removal, a court order was arranged to block Winfil’s effort to exploit the situation.
While Winfil then decided to restrict its slot machines to ‘demonstration’ mode, Judge Viviane De Faria Miranda subsequently issued an order preventing authorities from seizing its slot machines, emboldening Winfil once again to offering real-money slots. Before long, Judge Túlio Martins, President of the Communications Council of the Rio Grande do Sul Court, clarified the situation once more, stating that there was no legal validity to Winfil’s actions.
This week, officers from the Prosecutor’s Office and Civil Police then arrived at the casino, to the chagrin of those gamblers already frequenting the venue. Instead of infringing the order preventing them from removing the machines, however, authorities simply removed their controller boards and any money deposited inside them, essentially leaving hundreds of non-functioning slot machines behind.
Finally, the bizarre episode was concluded after Winfil executives were apparently detained briefly by authorities and made to sign documents acknowledging the error of their ways.