SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
BNDES – Brazil’s national development bank has sanctioned its fourth postponement of the sale of state-owned instant win (scratch card) operator LOTEX.
Last week, an under pressure BNDES issued a corporate communication informing the media and stakeholders that its scheduled Tuesday 26 March auction of LOTEX enterprise had been cancelled.
In its update, BNDES governance informs that the LOTEX auction has been moved to Friday 26 April, with BNDES accepting bid applications until Monday 22 April.
The postponement represents a further embarrassing chapter for BNDES which to date has failed in five attempts to privatise LOTEX, away from state-owned lottery operator CAIXA.
In August 2017, BNDES plans to sell LOTEX were approved by the Michel Temer MD Brasil government – with the state bank seeking a minimum BRL 4 billion (€1 billion) sale of the asset scheduled for 2018.
However, during 2018, BNDES plans drew no interest from foreign operators, who refused to participate in the LOTEX tender as BNDES had not clarified the position of CAIXA Federal as Brazil’s national lottery operators and sole distributor of LOTEX products.
During the course of 2018, a series of blunders saw BNDES withdraw the LOTEX auction three times. Taking office this January, the new Liberal Party government of Jair Bolsonaro, stated that it would pressure BNDES to conclude the LOTEX by Q1 2019 – a mandate that is unlikely to be met.
The Brazilian government allows for three types of lottery licensing; national lottery draw games; Mega SENA, LotoFacil, LotoMania and Dupla Sena) and sports lotteries (Quinia and Lotogol), operating alongside LOTEX instant games.
