The mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes, has submitted a bill to the City Council to create a public lottery service. The city's intention is to explore all betting modalities allowed in the country, based on the decision by the Supreme Federal Court that ended the Union's monopoly. The profit will be allocated to the Municipal Social Development Fund (50%), to reduce the Social Security deficit, and to pay court-ordered debts.
The mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), presented last week to the City Council a bill to create the São Paulo City Lottery. Nunes aims to explore lottery activities in the municipality, supported by the end of the Union's monopoly on the activity, decided in 2020 by the Supreme Federal Court (STF).
The government's plan is to launch municipal betting houses and also grant the service to so-called bets, according to information from UOL. The city's intention is to explore all betting modalities allowed in the country, such as online sports games, either directly or indirectly, i.e., through concessions to private companies.
Since the STF's decision, entities of the Federation have approved their own legislation, like Rio de Janeiro, Paraíba, and Paraná. In the capital of São Paulo, the proposed model allows the city to launch municipal betting houses, online platforms, or still grant the service to the private sector (the "bets"), charging grants and related taxes.
According to Nunes, the gross revenue from the sale of municipal lottery products, physically or virtually, will primarily be allocated to the payment of prizes, the collection of income tax on the winnings, and the expenses of operation and maintenance.
The profit will be allocated to the Municipal Social Development Fund (50%), to reduce the Social Security deficit, and to pay court-ordered debts.
The project is based on studies conducted after the launch of Public Call Notice 002/2024. In it, the municipal government opened to interested parties the possibility of conducting technical and feasibility studies, operational, economic-financial, and legal-regulatory for the implementation and operation of lotteries and betting in the city of São Paulo.
“The creation of a municipal lottery service has the potential to, at the same time, enable the auxiliary financing of public policies through the collection of lottery resources, as well as allow the supervision and control of the activities of municipal lottery operators in favor of the safety and protection of the citizens of São Paulo”, states the justification included in the project for the creation of the São Paulo City Lottery.
Source: GMB
