"We would not sell something that the market does not want to buy"

As Games Magazine Brasil announced a month ago, three major international companies in the sector (IGT, Intralot and Scientific Games) have already shown interest in bidding for the concession, as well as other companies that are also moving to define whether or not they will participate at the audience for the Lotex auction, to be held tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro.

In order to apply for the concession, participants must have experience in the operation of instant lottery service and gross monthly revenue, physical ticket sales or virtual betting of R$100 million (US$ 32 million) or more.

Tarcísio de Freitas, project secretary of the PPI (Program of Investment Partnership, which approved the concession), says he expects a good result at the end of the process.

Without giving names, Freitas told Folha that he was with lawyers representing big companies in the industry. The Lotex concession proposal was attractive to them. "We would not sell something that the market does not want to buy", he said.

During the studies to define the future of Lotex, Caixa, which operates several lottery games, wanted to control the company and then privatize it. But the Ministry of Finance, contrary to the idea, won the dispute deciding to make an auction for it to be administered via concession.

"Some people I talked to think: I do not buy a lottery with Caixa's participation. Will I have a competitor in my board?" It will participate in strategic decisions and has a product that competes with mine. Then, I don’t buy. If the study showed that the best model for Lotex sale was taking excluding Caixa, then that was the decision made, "said Freitas.

According to lawyer Luiz Felipe Maia, from FYMSA office, an expert on the subject, "the decision to keep Caixa out of the operation was interpreted by the sector as a sign of openness to private initiative."

In addition to the lottery, the global gaming industry has its eyes on the country on another front. Two bills are being passed in Congress that aim to legalize gambling in Brazil, such as casinos, bingo and gambling. Today, Brazil also allows the exploration of games such as poker and horse racing.

Expectations were high last year. Important global competitors tried some "bets": they probed some real estate to settle and visited Brasilia. In the first half of this year, however, the political crisis and reform agenda left the gaming initiative in the background.

 Source: GMB / Folha