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Expansion of state lotteries continues to make slow progress in Brazil, with the state of Rio de Janeiro’s lottery (LOTERJ) announcing that an internal commission will be formed to study new lottery products, including sports betting.
Hazenclever Lopes Cançado, the recently appointed head of LOTERJ, published an ordinance in Rio's official gazette on December 8, outlining the priorities of the lottery commission.
The goal of the commission will be to study the various merits of fixed- and variable-prize games that are being considered for LOTERJ’s expanding portfolio.
After the internal commission completes its work, a public notice will be issued with details on the additional games that will be offered. The commission has a deadline of ten working days once it begins.
Lopes Cançado, in the announcement, cited “the need to modernise and expand the portfolio of lottery products and game modes developed and operated by LOTERJ”.
The announcement also claimed that the bidding process is in an internal phase “to accredit companies for the operation of the lottery mode ‘Fixed-Odds Sports Betting’”.
The final report from the internal commission, which must be approved by the Superior Authority, will be a part of the bidding process for the new lottery products.
LOTERJ also published a notice on December 7 in the official gazette, announcing that it will hold a public tender process on December 23 for a contract to provide an e-platform payment processing service for its lottery products.
The contractor will receive 2.5 percent of amounts deposited and 1 percent of amounts withdrawn from the platform.
Brazil's 26 state governments received legal authority to develop new lottery products in October 2020 when the Supreme Court ruled that a 1967 decree granting the federal government the exclusive rights for all lotteries in the country was unconstitutional.
Since then, dozens of state and municipal governments like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo have taken steps to either expand or establish local lottery operations, including through the consideration of digital lottery games and fixed-odds sports betting.
Implementation has been slow going, however.
Elsewhere, the state of São Paulo’s lottery bidding process remains stalled after a judge last week blocked an attempted relaunch of a tender process for a contract to operate what would be the most significant state lottery in the country. It is the second time the process has failed due to technical errors in the bid documentation.
