The federal government counts on the privatization of the lotteries to double the collection of taxes on the bets of the Brazilians. With experienced players in the industry operating electronic games around the world, the economic team wants to bring investors to the Brazilian market and believes that the volume of tax revenues on lotteries can jump rapidly from US$ 1.9 billion to to at least US$ 3.8, which can help strengthen the National Treasury's cash in the next few years while public accounts are expected to remain in red.
Before privatizing the sector, which is a monopoly of the state-owned Caixa Economica Federal, the government divided the group of lotteries into two companies that will be auctioned: Lotex (the instant lottery, like the scratch card), that already exists in Brazil, and "SportBeting" (lottery betting, for example, on the team that will win, scores, forecasts made through the internet). SportBeting has not yet been created in the country, but Brazilians participate in this type of best using sites from abroad.
The State has learned that the Civil House must soon send to Congress a bill that will allow the operation of the sports lottery and authorize online betting. "This will more than double federal revenue from lotteries when the two companies' systems are fully operational," the government source said. The idea of issuing a Provisional Measure was abandoned following the opinion of the Attorney General of the National Treasury (PGFN).
The privatization of Lotex, that already has approved legislation, is in the National Privatization Plan (PND) within the Caixa structure. The economic team expects to launch the tender in August, with about 100 days until the auction in November. But the idea is to anticipate in a month that term, since it is not a complex auction. With this, the new company would already be operating by the end of the first half of 2018.
The sales model of the two companies is being made by BNDES. The "SportBeting" lottery should be created in the Caixa structure and passed to the private sector in early 2018. The tax gain from the Lotex sale operation entered into the government's extraordinary revenue account to close this year's budget.
Caixa will continue to manage the lotteries it operates, such as the Mega Sena. In the two companies that will be auctioned, it must remain as a partner, with a minority interest, in percentage to be defined.
Auction prices will depend on how much Caixa will keep on the service. The main advantage for the public coffers is not in the value of the sale, but in the increase of collection that will be maintained over time.
"The international betting market is
concentrated in a few companies and many of them have looked to the government
with interest in lotteries. After the auction, in about six months the new
operation would already be operatingr because, basically, it would require only
software investments," said a member of the government, noting that
investor appetite is high.
Source: GMB / Estadao
