Hebara was one of the five companies authorized by the São Paulo government to present studies on the implementation of the São Paulo Municipal Lottery. GMB invited Amilton Noble, the company's director, to analyze the victory and the impact of a new player in this market. "Certainly, the São Paulo capital will set the rules for other Brazilian cities," he said, adding that "it will be a watershed in the sector."
Recently, the São Paulo municipal public authority, the most important municipality in Brazil and one of the largest in the world, published the list of companies authorized to conduct the studies for the PMI - Expression of Interest Procedure for the launch of its Municipal Lottery.
With great honor, Hebara Distribuidora de Produtos Lotéricos was one of the five authorized companies.
It could not be otherwise, as Hebara has more than three decades of expertise in lottery operations on national territory and has already contributed by participating in the PMIs of several states so far.
As soon as the Notice was published, we requested accreditation and were enabled by having proven experience in conducting 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 in a regime of maximum competition among themselves, as advocated by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in the judgments of ADPFs 492 and 493, especially in the votes of Justices Gilmar Mendes and Alexandre de Moraes.
It is certain that the controversy over the legality of municipal lotteries will be made explicit, but, as I have said, while some discuss, others act...
I spent years at Hebara hearing that “Lottery was a monopoly of the Union” and that the work we did for so many years operating the products of Loterj "was illegal".
We took up the fight and arrived, in September 2020, at the historic decision of the STF to recognize the right of other federal entities to explore their lotteries. This "fight" allowed almost all states to move to explore their lotteries.
Now the municipalities "woke up" to a real possibility of generating new resources for their public coffers. They saw that they could move from a supporting role to assume the main role in the national lottery scene.
They will no longer come under the yoke of the Union and the states, which never allocate a penny directly to the municipalities on the revenue from the lottery products explored in their territories.
And São Paulo, like a locomotive, will pull a convoy of smaller municipalities.
It will be the national reference for the other 5,500 Brazilian municipalities that will have the opportunity to generate resources through their own lottery operation.
That's why 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 that, if copied, could be the ruin of lottery operations throughout Brazil.
The Hebara team is already working on the analyses to present to the Municipality of São Paulo a model that reflects 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 have great attractiveness 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, the expertise of several decades of Hebara will be at the service of the national lottery market in this PMI.
As the character Captain Nascimento in a famous national movie would say: "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
