Also known as a "scratch card" (raspadinha), the instant lottery is a mode where the gambler knows if he has won any prizes at the time of scratching the card. Lotex can be operated by Caixa or an operator.
The decision to grant the service was made during the former president Temer government. After successive presentations of the asset to international investors in so-called road shows in cities like London and Las Vegas, the government made the first auction attempt in July last year. But it had to postpone due to the lack of interest.
The government continued to postpone the dispute. New dates were set and in total changed the date five times. The justification of the technicians was the concern of the companies with the legislation, with the electoral process and, later, with the change of the government.
However, after these factors, the government still faces difficulties. Scheduled for February this year, the auction had to be canceled just a day before. Only two companies were interested in the dispute, IGT Global Services Limited and Scientific Games Corporation.
The two firms eventually came together to evaluate a joint offer. Meanwhile, they demanded from the government answers like what would happen if they gave up the asset after the auction. Given the low interest, the government found it better to redo the dispute to attract more companies.
"We are making the announcement more flexible to attract the 30 [largest], precisely to generate competition and ensure market opening," says Alexandre Manoel, Secretary of Evaluation of Public Policy, Planning, Energy and Lottery of the Ministry of Economy.
Now the government intends to reduce the required amount of experience operating the instant lottery service. In the original announcement, the company had to demonstrate that it had already managed an instant lottery service with revenues of R$ 1.2 billion (US$ 320m) or more.
In addition, the government plans to reduce the value of the guarantee to a level by up to one third of what came out in the last announcement. Previously, a minimum amount of R$ 27.3 million (US$ 7.3m) was required and could be provided in cash, public debt security, guarantee insurance or bank guarantee and have a minimum term of one year. That is, the new value would be could fall to about R$ 9 million (US$ 2.4m).
After studies carried out during the Temer administration by the then Ministry of Finance and by the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development), the economic team decided to grant in exchange for a payment to be made by the winning company.
Source: GMB / Folha
