VIE 29 DE MARZO DE 2024 - 12:51hs.
Chamber of Deputies

Finance and BNDES defend Lotex concession, but Caixa shows concern

Representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) defended Wednesday the concession of the Exclusive Instant Lottery (Lotex), created by Law 13,155 / 15. For the Federal Savings Bank, which currently manages the prize, failing to offer the product may undermine the bank's business. Download BNDES and Fazenda presentations here.

By definition of the federal government, Lotex must be granted to the private sector for 15 years. The auction, according to government expectations, is expected to take place in February or March of next year, with a minimum bid of R$ 546 million (USD 168.5m).

The sub-secretary for Economic Monitoring of the Ministry of Finance, Alexandre da Silva, defended the concession to increase the share of the lottery market in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). According to him, the world average is 1%, while in Brazil the index has been around 0.2%. "We expect growth in the market as a whole. Any monopoly tends to inertia, this is not just something of Caixa. The market was never 0.3 percent of GDP, although the government has full control over the structure," he said.

According to the head of the Department of Privatization of BNDES, Guilherme Albuquerque, the study of the bank did not indicate whether Caixa should or should not have mandatory participation in the management of Lotex and this was a decision of the government. "What it recommends is to make a concession. The decision by the government is that Caixa can participate in a competitive market," he said.

End of warranty

The director of Caixa Instantaneous - a subsidiary of Caixa Economica to take care of Lotex -, Rubens dos Santos, affirmed that the government change from privatization to concession took the guarantee of the bank to participate as a minority shareholder.

"Caixa, in one way or another, does not think about being out of business. It can even have a future association with the winner, placing at the disposal of the winner all this sales network that we have," said Santos, citing the network of 13 thousand lotteries points of sale throughout the country. By law 12.869 / 13, the network is bound to the bank and could only market Lotex with Caixa's endorsement.

Santos emphasized that the instant lottery represents more than 50% of the total revenue of this type of prizes in several countries like Italy, France and Portugal.

They participated in the debate of the Finance and Taxation Commission on the privatization of Lotex. In this type of activity, the bettor knows at the time to scratch the ticket whether or not he won the prize.

Experience Ignored

For Deputy Luiz Carlos Hauly (PSDB-PR), who asked for the debate, the model chosen by the government ignores Caixa's 50-year experience in managing lotteries and also in the lottery network. "I needed to rethink that part so that Caixa was a partner in this business. I would not give 100%, would create 50% Caixa and 50% who would like to be a partner to develop the product," he said.

Hauly also questioned the Treasury's claim that the concession could expand the lottery's share of GDP by five times. "Is there any new market space?" asked the deputy. According to him, a good part of the resources that could be obtained with the instant lottery go to the informal market, with bets like jogo do bicho.

Source: GMB / Agência Câmara Notícias