SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Executive of São Paulo has awarded the state lottery contract to Aposta Vencedora, a consortium led by Portuguese investors from SAV Participações.
Aposta Vencedora won the concession for the Loteria Paulista with a bid of R$600 million (€95 million), exceeding the initial R$260 million sought by the state by over 100%.
The bidding for São Paulo’s state lottery was highly competitive, with Aposta Vencedora narrowly beating its auction rival, SP Loterias, a consortium backed by IGT Global which submitted a final offer of R$526 million.
Aposta Vencedora will manage a 15-year contract as the exclusive vendor of state draws, sports pools, and instant lotto games of Loteria Paulista, sold throughout the state of São Paulo by 31 exclusive units and 11,000 independent retailers.
The contract excludes unregulated gaming activities such as bingo, casino games, and Jogo do Bicho (instant win games), as a legal framework for land-based gambling activities is yet to be determined by the Senate and federal government.
The São Paulo state government plans to raise R$3.4 billion over the 15-year concession period, with the funds earmarked for healthcare investments.
Brazilian states have been granted autonomy to operate state lotteries following a Supreme Court ruling in 2020, which determined that the federal government does not have exclusive control over lotteries, allowing individual states to establish their own lottery systems.
The consortium of SAV Participações is led by Alexandre Manoel da Silva, a former government official of Jair Bolsonaro, and Portuguese gaming executive Fernando Eduardo Cabral Paes de Sousa Afonso. Further executives include Guilherme Vilazante Castro, Isadora Vila Boas Leite, and AX4B Computer Systems, headed by CEO Antônio Cesar Felix de Sousa.
The consortium has connections to São Paulo’s Governor Tarcísio de Freitas, also a former minister in Bolsonaro’s administration.
São Paulo will apply “conduct monitoring” of the concessionaire’s operations, assessing the quality of the betting system and customer support services, as evaluated by São Paulo’s public services register.
The tender to operate Loteria Paulista was initially scheduled for October 28, but the auction was delayed following a Supreme Court ruling that impacted cross-state advertising rights.
