The Secretary for Valuation, Planning, Energy and Lottery must undergo changes before the announcement of a new holder. At the request of Paulo Guedes, the executive secretary of the Ministry of Economy, Marcelo Guaranys, coordinates a proposal to change the organizational structure of the Ministry of Economy.
Guedes's idea is to eliminate overlaps and speed up the execution of the ministry's policies. The changes will also encompass the newly arrived Investment Partnership Program, which has just been transferred from the Civil House to the Economy, where it maintained the status of special secretary.
The goal is to publish a decree by April with the changes. The Ministry of Economy is the result of the merging of the old ministries of Finance, Planning, Labor and Trade and Industry.
NEW HORIZONS
After almost four years, I finish my professional cycle at the Ministry of Finance / Economy, starting next March 2nd, when the six-month quarantine period begins, so that I can search for new horizons and new challenges.
Throughout this period in the Ministry, there was a lot of hard work and learning, especially in contact with such qualified people as Ministers Paulo Guedes and Eduardo Guardia, Secretaries Salim Mattar, Ana Paula Vescovi, Waldery Rodrigues and Mansueto Almeida, and the entire team of from the previous government, whose academic background and professional experience are references for both the public and private sectors.
It was really a privilege to have had the opportunity to contribute to the transformations that Brazil needs to grow again and it is with great joy that I look in the rear view mirror and see many achievements in the most diverse areas in which I have worked.
Despite my assignments having covered strategic issues far beyond Lotteries and Commercial Promotion, such as Energy, Evaluation of Public Policies and Planning, I highlight my contribution to the improvement of those areas in three aspects: institutional; advertising and efficiency.
INSTITUTIONAL
a) unprecedented participation of the Government in national and international events in the sector, especially as a speaker, contributing to clarify specificities of the Brazilian market and provide more security for international operators and investors in the area;
b) conducting a public consultation for the regulation of sports betting, allowing the expression of all those interested in the topic to support and help the Government's discussions;
c) participation in the discussions of the National Congress, mainly through relationships with the then Deputy Vicente Cândido and the then Senator Flexa Ribeiro, both to approve sports betting in a fixed quota and to unify commercial promotions in the Ministry of Finance, previously done mismatched at Caixa and at the Ministry, in conjunction with the then Executive Secretary Ana Paula and Minister Guardia;
d) the consolidation of the 15 sparse and confused lottery laws in just one, an achievement that I consider most important, in the institutional aspect. This was only possible because we had the idea of allocating more money for Public Security and we worked with the then Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Public Security, Flávio Basílio, who convinced Minister Jungmann of the idea (he won an additional R$ 1 billion in budget), resulting in a successful agreement with President Temer to issue a Provisional Measure. At the end of the day, the aforementioned MP resulted in the allocation of more resources for public security, consolidation of lottery legislation, approval of sports betting in a fixed quota and unification of commercial promotion, through Law 13.756 / 2018.
PUBLICITY
e) publication of the quarterly lottery newsletter, which helped society to know and become familiar with the numbers of the lottery market. Before, the figures were only released by Caixa at the beginning of each year, compared to the previous year;
f) unprecedented publication and in partnership with CADE of the book “Por trás da Sorte” (Behind the Luck), which systematized the knowledge on regulation and defense of competition by the technicians of the Ministry of Finance and CADE, in the area;
g) the Monography Prize - already in its third edition-, which has brought lotteries closer to the academic world and scholars, with the gains to come and gifts already known, such as Fabiano Jantalia, Consultant of the Chamber, of Adhemar Ranciaro, today working in the area and Nelson Leitão - who will open a line of research on lotteries at the Federal University of Pernambuco. Three scholars who began to take an interest in the topic due to the Monograph Award.
EFFICIENCY
h) automation of the process of evaluating and approving Commercial Promotions, very different from the archaic processes of the past, when an authorization took about 30 days, whereas today it takes about 6 days and we already foresee that, in the future, it will go down for 3 days;
i) Permanent dialogue with various business segments for the modernization of the law on commercial promotions, law 5.768 / 71, even leaving a draft bill ready to modernize it - the result of an initiative in front of several business segments, and to which it collaborated greatly the Brazilian Association of Advertisers;
j) Increase in the number of trade promotion authorizations. In 2018, Caixa and the Ministry of Finance jointly authorized 5,258. In 2019, with the unified authorizations, the Ministry of Economy authorized 6,351 commercial promotions. That's right: there were 1,093 more authorizations last year, compared to 2018. This generated more fees for the federal government, with clearer rules for the market as a whole, improving the business environment. Everyone won;
k) the increase in the portion of the billing that returns to the bettor (payout) of ALL lottery modalities, provided for in Law 13.756 / 2018, which will be valid as of the beginning of the operation of Lotex. The lottery payouts were NEVER increased in Brazil, on the contrary, they only decreased;
l) discussion process for the regulation of sports betting in fixed-odds, which will complete the lottery market, according to the classification of the World Lottery Association. The Ministry still has 3 years to regulate, but in the past year, we have already made great progress. I remember (for those who are in a hurry for regulation) that, four years ago, there was no law and the draft that existed was to create a service exclusively for Caixa, which would choose a company to be a partner in the operation of the service. In a few months' time, all lottery modalities will be present in Brazil and will operate in the COMPETITIVE format;
m) the modernization of Sweepstake, which is regulated, but no company operates. With the modernization, in progress, in which we have everything approved in the instances of the ME, it is also expected to make this lottery viable, generating about 2,000 jobs;
n) the Lotex Concession, allowing the operation of part of the federal lotteries by completely private companies, generating thousands of jobs, without any use of public money. Lotex will also generate from R$ 1 billion to R$ 2 billion per year of direct collection to the National Treasury, helping the federal government to obtain more revenue, contributing to the fiscal adjustment. There will also be an improvement, albeit marginal, in the allocative efficiency in the Brazilian economy, due to the breaking of a monopoly that has been in place for almost 60 years.
I would also like to say to those who plead for the legalization of casinos and other types of “gambling” that, with the development of the competitive market, brought about by the operation of both instant lottery and sports betting in fixed odds, such release will happen naturally, with the support of society. What has been done in the past four years has been a necessary step, for this to happen inexorably in the years to come.
Finally, I would like to thank the team in this area at the Ministry of Economy / Finance, in the people of Waldir Marques, Itamar Pereira, Altair Medanha and Rubens Cesínio; without them none of this would be possible. In particular, external here that, if I returned to work in this area, in the coming years, I would very much like you to become my professional partners, integrating my team. They proved to be worthy companions throughout all the battles fought inside and outside the government.
Source: GMB
