PARIURI SPORTIVE

Brazil – Federal District to launch lotteries and sports betting

The Legislative Chamber of the Federal District approved the creation of the Federal District Lottery. PL No. 2,312/21 covers several types of games including instants, a number of different types of lottery draws and sports betting.

The bill received 27 amendments, 18 of which were accepted. The approval of a number of amendments had already been agreed upon with the team and the support base of Governor Ibaneis Rocha, which guaranteed a successful vote in the legislative session.

Among them, was an amendment that assigned the operation of lottery games to the Banco de Brasília (BRB). BRB is a Brazil-based bank that is controlled by the government of the Federal District.

“In the same way that the Caixa Econômica Federal is responsible for the management of lotteries at the national level, by symmetry, BRB should be responsible for the operation and exploitation of lottery games in the Federal District”, said Deputy Chico Vigilante, author of the amendment.

Caixa Econômica Federal, known locally as Caixa, is the biggest public bank in Latin America and Brazil’s biggest mortgage provider. Caixa is a 100 per cent publicly owned state company. It was granted the control of lotteries in 1961.

The only opponent to this measure, deputy Julia Lucy, questioned the “monopoly” granted to the BRB: “Other banks should compete and dispute the service,” she said.

Another amendment to the text was presented by Deputy Delmasso, and prohibited the exploitation of bingo games, casinos and other types of gaming. “It is a position of the evangelical caucus: we are against any type of game. As the lottery already exists at the federal level and the law allows it, we made an amendment to prevent the extension to other types of games of chance in the Federal District,” Delmasso said.

Deputies who opposed the bill questioned the government’s intention to create a local lottery and the way in which the project had been put forward.

“Society wants to understand the reason for this project. What is the point of sending it at this time? We know that, historically, lotteries have often been used for money laundering,” said lawmaker Fábio Felix. “In addition, it has become a ‘patchwork quilt’: the money raised goes to health, to education, to culture, to sports, to assistance, it goes to everything. We don’t know where the resources really go,” he said.

Deputy Leandro Grass also criticized the project saying that the creation of a lottery requires “a more precise framework, so that its effects are not detrimental to society and the public budget.”

The expansion of the sector on a state-by-state level was only made possible by the Supreme Court. In September 2020, the Supreme Court of Brazil ruled that the federal government’s lottery monopoly was unconstitutional, paving the way for states to develop state lotteries for each of Brazil’s 26 states and one federal district as long as they comply with federal regulations. This means that current operators can extend their offerings while states will begin to roll out their own lottery products within their own state borders.

The STF decision could also open up the sports betting market as well. Online and land based sports betting was permitted by the federal government in December 2018 via Law No. 13,758/18. Sports betting was categorised as a lottery. Consequently all states could possibly operate sports betting within their territories.