SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Loterj – The State Lottery of Rio de Janeiro has notified sportsbook system/platform providers that it will press ahead to launch and complete its fixed-odds betting tender in 2023.
The announcement was made by Loterj President Hazenclever Lopes Cançado at ICE London’s ‘VOX 2023 – World Regulatory Briefing‘.
Lopes Cançado informed delegates that in ‘approximately 120 days’ Loterj will launch its tender to find a fixed-odds wagering partner for “online and face-to-face betting”.
Outlined as a key objective, Loterj’s executive team is finalising its ‘Terms of Reference‘ – a document that will outline technical requirements to operate LoterJ’s sports betting franchise in Rio de Janeiro.
As stands, Loterj expects to publish the Terms of Reference by the end of February, which will establish the first criteria to compete in the tender process.
“We have not yet defined the values of the fixed concession, but the parameters are from 4 to 8 million reais for a license for a period of five years, for online and face-to-face fixed quota betting operations,” Lopes Cançado informed ICE London.
The integration with the instant payment system of PIX Cobranca was mentioned as the only technical requirement disclosed by Lopes Cançado.
The chosen partner will ‘work in parallel’ with Brazil telecoms company Anatel, and Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) to ensure that sports betting on LoterJ’s platform is limited to state boundaries.
Technical compliance was underscored as the critical criteria to operate Loterj’s sports betting franchise, which must only take bets from ‘state taxed’ residents, referencing BNL data.
Cançado concluded, “This will be a challenge for the state lotteries. There will be an imposition so that, in the accreditation, the operator can demonstrate that he has control over the fact that sales are restricted to the limits of the state, as provided for in federal legislation.”
The tender’s significance was further underlined as Loterj serves as an “autarchy of Rio’s state government”, which since “1944 has been responsible for the administration, management and inspection of the game in all municipalities in the state.”
