The CEO of Caixa Loterias, Lucíola Aor Vasconcelos, announced in the Chamber of Deputies, last Tuesday (4), that the company is developing new products to better compete in the gaming market.
Among the new features are the reintroduction of the instant lottery, known as scratch cards, which was discontinued in 2015, and fixed-odd bets, or ‘bets’, which will be managed by lottery agents.
During the public hearing at the Financial Inspection and Control Commission, Lucíola explained that Caixa Loterias, created in 2016 as a subsidiary of Caixa Econômica Federal, received approval to migrate all lotteries to this new company.
The director highlighted that this change will allow for a greater focus on the lottery business, which is in constant transformation due to the emergence of virtual games and the STF decision in 2020, which allowed states to also explore lotteries.
Situation of Lotteries
Lucíola highlighted that the new products should improve the business environment for the 13,300 lottery agencies. Currently, many of these agencies face financial difficulties due to competition with virtual betting, including those promoted by Caixa itself.
Deputy Darci de Matos (PSD-SC) noted that lottery operators are making increasingly smaller gains. In this way, he defended that they can create their own websites to sell Caixa products.
“If we stay only in the physical environment, we will die”, said Matos. Deputy Reimont (PT-RJ) also called for measures to strengthen lottery agents.
Lucíola mentioned that the Bolão Caixa product, which allows virtual group bets organized by lotteries, is already in operation. Thus, it is beneficial for these agents.
State control of Caixa Loterias and privatization
Deputy Tadeu Veneri (PT-PR), who requested the public hearing, expressed concern about the possible privatization of Caixa Loterias.
He recalled that the STF decided that subsidiaries of state-owned companies are allowed to be privatized without the need for authorization from Congress. According to Veneri, this privatization could threaten social programs financed by lotteries.
“This worries us a lot, because we know that today the lottery is one of the main financiers of government social programs”, highlighted Veneri.
In short, in 2023, Caixa’s lotteries raised R$23.4 billion. In this way, a total of R$9.2 billion was directed to areas such as social security, sport, culture, public security, education and health.
Finally, Lucíola assured that there are no plans to lose state control of Caixa Loterias and that the management of the lottery network will continue to be under the responsibility of Caixa Econômica Federal.
