The government led by the president of the Workers’ Party (PT), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, opted to revive the Exclusive Instant Lottery, popularly called “scratch card”. The reinstatement of this lottery will be confirmed in the sports betting MP, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Finance.
By reintroducing the lottery, the government aims to raise around BRL 5 billion annually. This amount is included in the estimated collection of at least R$ 12 billion, which will be obtained through the taxation of online sports betting announced by the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad.
With this determination, it is expected that the text of the provisional measure is not limited only to the taxation of online sports betting, but also includes the reintroduction of a lottery modality that was extinguished during the government of Michel Temer (MDB), in a scope wider.
Lotex, which was controlled by Caixa Econômica Federal and was part of the country’s lottery monopoly, was auctioned in October 2019 during the management of the former MDB president.
At that time, the Estrela Instantânea consortium, made up of IGT and SGI, was the winner of the deal. However, in 2020, the company announced its withdrawal from the concession process, due to unfulfilled requests by the federal government.
In addition, a decision by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) was another reason why the company abandoned the business. The Court defined that the exploitation of lotteries was not exclusive to the Union, allowing the States and the Federal District to also manage this activity. This result could open competition for the consortium, which sought to exploit the instant lottery exclusively.
Internal studies carried out by Caixa Econômica Federal revealed that the “scratch card” was the second highest grossing lottery in the world. However, its discontinuity affected Union revenue.
The return of Lotex is part of the Executive’s tax efforts to increase revenue and is part of the main issues addressed by the sports betting MP. It is worth mentioning that sports betting is the main focus of the provisional measure, as it has become increasingly popular in Brazil.
