After the approval of the Assembly, the law establishing the service was sanctioned on Monday (16) this week. But for the operation to begin, the government will still have to carry out a public consultation related to the lottery, open a bidding process for companies to compete for the operation and complete other steps. The forecast for starting the service is only at the end of the year.
According to the Secretary of Partnerships and Investments, José Humberto, the investment for this project will be operated by the private sector, so there will be no cost for the government.
“We are working with a concession regime. This was judged constitutional by the Supreme Court at the end of 2020 and recognized the state's competence to exploit this service. It is not for the state to legislate on lottery modalities,” he clarified, citing that other states already have similar initiatives.
The state is preparing for the stage of public consultations to explain to the population how the service will work, which, according to the secretary, will consist of games similar to those of traditional lotteries.
“For more than a year we have been maturing a concession project, in the modeling phase that deals with all the financial, technical and legal aspects, and now we must open the public consultation, a whole process of initial transparency. After this stage, we will undergo a prior control by the Court of Auditors,” he said, stating that the bidding to choose the company should take place in the first half of 2023.
It will still be necessary to define which type of lottery product will be marketed. But José Humberto said that the company will take care of this operation. “The concessionaire or the state can explore a scratch card, a lottery with predictions of numbers, sports betting or that combination of games. Finally, all products that comply with the modalities provided for in federal law.”
The sale of the lottery will take place in specific locations, which, according to the Secretary for Partnerships and Investments, will encourage the creation of jobs and the development of municipalities in the interior. “In our project we demand the creation of lottery stores in each municipality. According to our studies, this should generate more than a thousand jobs over the years of the concessions,” he explained.
Companies that operate in the field, obey the technical qualification, economic/financial qualification will be able to participate in the auction and competition session. “We estimate the initial bid above R$ 10 million, to demand a certain financial capacity from the operator. From this concession, the concessionaire can negotiate, install or subcontract these stores in the interior of the state.”
Social aspect
The forecast for the service to start operating with the sale of lottery products is only at the end of the year. The percentage of the company's profits that will go to the state will be distributed to the public policy application.
“We have to allocate percentages to the social areas of the state. It is also a determination of the governor. To do this, value the democratic debate in the Legislative Assembly,” commented the secretary.
The state lottery will allocate part of the resources for the following areas: 10% for the implementation and improvement of actions and services contemplated to the sport; 10% to actions aimed at combating and treating cancer in the state; 5% to actions and services related to investments in information technology; 5% to Apae actions and services; 70% will be via decree, as per regulations of the State Executive Branch.
After the sanction, the state has a period of 60 days to regulate the legislation regarding the state lottery.
Source: G1 Tocantins
