Recently, the municipal government of São Paulo, the most important municipality in Brazil and one of the largest in the world, published a list of companies qualified to carry out Expression of Interest Procedure (PMI) studies for the launch of its Municipal Lottery.
With great honor, Hebara Distribuidora de Produtos Lotéricos was one of the five authorized companies.
It couldn't be any different, as Hebara has more than three decades of expertise in lottery operations nationwide and we have already contributed by participating in PMIs in several states so far.
As soon as the Notice was published, we requested accreditation and were qualified because we had proven experience in carrying out this type of study.
It will be a watershed in the Brazilian market, as São Paulo will be the first state where the three spheres of power (Union, State and Municipality of São Paulo) will soon be operating lotteries under a regime of maximum competition between them, as recommended by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in the judgment of ADPF's 492 and 493, especially in the votes of Ministers Gilmar Mendes and Alexandre de Moraes.
Recentemente o poder público municipal de São Paulo, o município mais importante do Brasil e um dos maiores do mundo, publicou a relação de empresas habilitadas para a realização dos estudos do PMI - Procedimento de Manifestação de Interesse para o lançamento de sua Loteria Municipal.
It is true that the controversy over the legality of municipal lotteries will be explained, but, as I have said, while some argue, others do...
I spent years at Hebara hearing that “Lottery was a Union monopoly” and that the work we carried out for so many years operating Loterj products “was illegal.”
We joined the fight and arrived, in September 2020, at the historic decision of the STF to recognize the right of other federated entities to explore their lotteries. This "fight" allowed almost all states to move to explore their lotteries.
Now municipalities have "woken up" to a real possibility of generating new resources for their public coffers. They saw that they could leave their supporting role behind and take on the role of main actor on the national lottery scene.
They will no longer come at the expense of the Union and the states, which never allocate a cent directly to the municipalities from the collection of lottery products operated in their territories.
And São Paulo, like a locomotive, will pull a train of smaller municipalities.
It will be the national reference for another 5,500 Brazilian municipalities that will have the opportunity to generate resources through their own lottery operation.
Hence the importance of this PMI. And that's why our pride grows in having the chance to present to the Municipality of São Paulo the opportunity to adopt the best path in operating its Lottery.
The responsibility is huge, as a well-done model will become a national reference. Just as there is a great risk of choosing a wrong model which, if copied, could be the ruin of lottery operations throughout Brazil.
The Hebara team is already working on analyzes to present the Municipality of São Paulo with a model that takes into account its strength.
It is obvious that a municipality, even São Paulo, the largest in the country, cannot make the mistake of operating a product wanting to "go head to head" with Mega-Sena. It will be "crushed."
But there are products that will be highly attractive if well operated in the municipal territory, whatever its size. An experienced operator will know how to develop products for each size of municipality.
Therefore, Hebara's decades-long expertise will be at the service of the national lottery market in this PMI.
As the character Captain Nascimento would say in a famous national film: "Mission given is mission accomplished."
We will do our best to have an increasingly mature and professional lottery market.
Amilton Noble
Executive Director of Hebara, working in the gaming and betting market for 30 years
