Rio Pag wins injunction suspending Loterj contract termination in Rio de Janeiro

Rio Pag has obtained a court injunction that temporarily reinstates its contract with Loteria do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Loterj) to process payments for lottery services and online betting. For high-risk PSPs, the immediate point is simple: even a terminated payments contract can snap back into force if the administrative process is attacked first and the court buys that argument.

1. The injunction was issued by the 14th Public Treasury Court of the Capital District and signed by judge Neusa Regina Larsen de Alvarenga Leite. Rio Pag’s request was filed by former Justice Minister Eugênio Aragão, a partner at Aragão & Tomaz, and the company has resumed processing Loterj digital payments.
2. The state government under interim governor Ricardo Couto has appealed and is trying to overturn the order. The case is under judicial secrecy, so the public record is limited to the facts already reported by Globo Online columnist Malu Gaspar.
3. The dispute began with a R$ 18.5 million amount belonging to Loterj that was held by Rio Pag and then, according to the report, “disappeared” from the company’s accounts. After repeated demands, the money was paid, but the state still claims roughly R$ 4 million in monetary correction, fines, and late-payment interest, which Rio Pag disputes.
4. Loterj had unilaterally terminated the contract over what it described as multiple irregularities. In its mandamus filed on Thursday (23/9), Rio Pag argued that the termination process itself was procedurally flawed and should be suspended until two recusal motions against the Loterj leadership are reviewed again.
5. The judge accepted that theory and cited a possible breach of the principles of legality, adversarial process, full defense, legal certainty, and trust that govern administrative proceedings. State officials, for their part, view the move as an election-season delay tactic rather than a fight over the contract’s substance.

Rio Pag was contracted in 2023, during Cláudio Castro’s administration in Rio de Janeiro, through what the report describes as a controversial tender. The broader lesson for PSPs is familiar: if the state contract is tied to lottery or betting flows, the termination fight can quickly turn into a legal and political one, with payment processing suspended or restored before the underlying merits are ever resolved.