Fare correction can save Brazilian lottery from bankruptcy

The great movement that lottery units have in Brazil gives the impression that who owns one shops makes a lot of money. But when closing the cashier, only those who live the day to day know the difficulties that these companies are going through.

In Brazil, there are currently more than 13 thousand lottery units (shops). This number has already been higher, but since last year it is decreasing due to the high operating costs and the low remuneration made by Caixa Econômica. The Bank grants the authorization for the operation of these units. The amounts collected from the sale of lottery games, bill collection or other services are passed on to Caixa and lottery holders receive only a few cents on each of these operations. For the provision of banking services, for example, lottery companies receive R $ 0.58. According to the calculation of the Lottery Association of São Paulo and Interior ( Alspi), only to cover operating costs, the value should be R $ 0.82.

In order to try to correct this gap and prevent more agencies to finish their activities, leaving the population unattended, the Chamber of Deputies is in charge of Bill 7,306 / 17, which deals with the value of tariffs for services rendered by lottery banking. The proposal is being analyzed by the Work, Administration and Public Service Commission ( CTASP).

Project Changes

This week, federal deputy Herculano Passos (PSD-SP) met with the rapporteur on the matter, Representative Orlando Silva, to whom he presented three suggestions for changes to the project requested by ALSPI: "One of the amendments that the Association asked me to propose is that lottery players can charge a specific rate of up to 100% of the amount of each lottery bet. Currently, the maximum allowed is only 35%," said the congressman, who is a great defender of the category.

Another suggestion concerns the commission received on the marketing of lottery modalities. The proposal is that the percentage is not less than 11% of the sale price of each game or bet. Currently the law says that "the permission holders (Lottery) will be entitled to the commission stipulated by the grantor (Caixa Econômica)," without establishing percentages.

Correspondent banking

The last proposal intends to put an end to the prerogative granted to Caixa to demand that every lottery also act as correspondent banking. "The service provided as a correspondent bank does not constitute public servisse. It is a typically private economic activity, and there is no reasonableness in this point that is now permitted by law," Herculano argued.

According to Law No. 12.869/13, in addition to having the power to require the exclusivity of the permission holder, Caixa may still require it to act in "ancillary activities", as a correspondent bank, for example. In addition, the Bank still has the power to unilaterally set the remuneration amounts for services, whether they are lottery or non-lottery. "In practice, the permittee is required to provide any and all activities determined by Caixa, regardless of 'ancillary activities' cause damage to the lottery unit itself," lamented Herculano.

The suggestions have been accepted by the rapporteur and should be included in his opinion. An urgent request for this project was also presented last week. If it is approved, it does not need to be analyzed in the committees and will be voted directly in the plenary, accelerating its procedure. In the plenary, the suggestions proposed by Herculano can also be accepted, altering the original project.

Source: GMB