The Provisional Measure 841 promulgated by President Michel Temer, which deals with the destination of the proceeds from the collection of lotteries for public safety actions, received 95 amendments from the deputies and senators of the Joint Commission, which should analyze it. Several of them ask to reduce the prizes and funds destined to expenses of costing and maintenance of the operative agent of the new LOTEX.
The next steps are not yet defined by the government, which has to decide whether to set a new date for the auction and reshape the conditions, whether to give up the current proposal or whether LOTEX will return to CAIXA.
As the auction of LOTEX is next July 4th but the treatment of the MP in Congress is scheduled for September 12, foreign companies decided not to risk such a scenario of legal uncertainty and they refused to participate, as GMB could find out. Oddly enough, the State, the main driver of LOTEX, ended up hurting its own interests with an inopportune MP that drove investors away.
Until before the presentation of the MP 841, at least four leading companies such as IGT, SC, Intralot and Tic-Tabs, had shown great interest in the 15-year Instant Lottery concession, according to the information that was handled in the Secretariat of Fiscal Assistance, Energy and Lottery (SEFEL) and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES).
The deserted bidding means a very hard setback for the Finance Ministry and for BNDES after a year and a half of work and investment to privatize a lottery modality for the first time since the monopoly of the Caixa Economica Federal was established in 1961.
According to the edicts, the concession had to be for 15 years, with a value of R$ 542 million (US$143 million). The studies prepared by BNDES pointed to the possibility of a total collection, by the concessionaire, in the order of R$ 6 billion (US$158 bn) already from the fifth year of operation of the service. Of this total, 16.7% was going to be used for social transfers, 2.6% for tax collection and a payout of 65%, to stimulate demand for the product.
The Ministry of Public Security, foreseeing that the companies could be frightened by the amendments to MP 841, attempted to reassure them through a statement: "There was only a substitution of legal beneficiaries, with this modality financing on a permanent basis the National Public Security Fund, counting the government with its good performance so that greater resources are assured to the Public Security.”
According to the note, the government was working to ensure the gross award and the operator's remuneration, as provided by the legislation, "in order to ensure the success of this lottery mode, being certain that the higher the number of bettors, the greater the resources for Public Security and for the entities of the federation."
Now it remains to know if LOTEX will return to the hands of CAIXA or if the project changes its rules and returns after the presidential elections.
Source: GMB
