The São Paulo Lottery has suspended all its administrative activities at the request of the São Paulo State Court of Auditors (TCE-SP). The decision by TCE-SP’s Substitute Auditor, Samy Wurman, was made following a challenge from the Aposta Vencedora Consortium. The decision was made this Thursday (18).
The Aposta Vencedora Consortium filed a complaint questioning aspects of the bidding process. The Secretariat of Partnerships and Investments (SPI) has five days to present justifications on the disputed points.
Currently, the operation of lottery services in the city of São Paulo is a dispute between two groups/consortia. The Aposta Vencedora Consortium, formed by SAV Participações and AX4B Sistemas, is the other group. The SP Loterias Consortium is managed by IGT Global Services in partnership with Scientific Games.
Understand the São Paulo Lottery concession process
According to the notice, the contract would be for 15 years. Furthermore, it required a minimum investment of R$333 million and established the selection criterion as the largest fixed grant offered to the state, stipulated at least R$260.7 million.
However, during the first auction, held in November 2024, the Aposta Vencedora Consortium outbid SP Loterias, offering an initial R$600 million grant. This amount is 130% higher than the minimum required.
However, in May 2025, a new chapter unfolded. Aposta Vencedora failed to make the payment and was disqualified. As a result, SP Investimentos, which is responsible for this process, called on the SP Loterias Consortium, whose bid had been R$526.5 million.
Following this imbroglio, the Aposta Vencedora Consortium sought to overturn the administrative decision and also appealed to the courts, but to no avail. Now, with this intervention at the São Paulo Court of Auditors (TCE-SP), Aposta Vencedora alleges irregularities in the competitor’s qualification.
In the request, the consortium justifies problems in surety bond policies and alleged inconsistencies in documents of foreign companies that are part of the group.
TCE-SP has a deadline to decide on consortiums
After this entire process and based on the arguments, TCE-SP advisor Wurman determined that the state should not proceed with the contract, until a new decision is made by the TCE-SP.
After the deadline for justifications, the case will return to the Office of Deputy Auditor Samy Wurman, this time for further analysis and possible deliberation on the merits of the complaint.
