IGT and Scientific Games presented to the Court of Auditors of the State of Rio de Janeiro a representation against the bidding of new lottery modalities, including online operations and sports betting. The companies allege irregularities and inadequacies in the Notice, which could compromise the competition's competitiveness.
The bidding, scheduled to take place at 2 pm on Monday, July 5, aims to “hire a company specialized in the provision of lottery product creation services, including games and events involving sweepstakes and betting records; the distribution and marketing of prognostic lottery products, instant lottery games involving fixed odds betting on sports, whether in physical environment or not, and also the elaboration, proposition, guidance and execution of campaigns advertising related to games developed and marketed within the State of Rio de Janeiro.”
In recent days, Loterj had already made clarifications and denied requests to contest the Notice, demonstrating in its justifications all legal aspects relating to the bidding itself, as well as pointing out issues related to the lottery market to prove the fairness of the event.
The President of Loterj, Oswaldo Luiz Pacheco Ribeiro, even asked the State Comptroller General to monitor the tender along with the company's Internal Control Advisory Board, to ensure that the process has the expected progress and that it does not suffer complications.
The shock was the representation of IGT and Scientific Games asking the State Audit Court to suspend the bidding in the late afternoon of Friday, with just three days to go before the event. Loterj has been asserting that the entire process is based on market studies and the requirements of the Notice are in accordance with previous processes. The company's president told GMB that, since 1998, Loterj has held bids to improve its social service policy based on lottery resources and all of them followed the same principles and requirements.
“The requirements followed the same parameters as previous tenders. In this one, we only focus on one more theme, which is the fight against money laundering, requiring bidders to adopt international standards against it,” he said.
The president did not expect attempts to challenge the bid, especially at a time so close to the event, but he said that the company would be prepared if that happened. Loterj's legal department will work with the TCE to try to block the suspension request.
Despite the apprehension regarding the representation to the TCE, Ribeiro is excited about the tender and says that “this process is post-pandemic. We suffered a lot and now it will be redemption and turning point for Loterj in terms of serving the philanthropy for which we were constituted. Our revenue was below than what we expected, and this turnaround will be important because we will move to a higher level and, most importantly, very quickly, meeting the expectations of society in our state,” he concludes.
Source: GMB
