Brazil’s Mato Grosso do Sul has paused its Lotesul lottery tender again, just days after relaunching the process with a lower minimum revenue-share for the state—another twist in a procurement saga that has become a test case for how subnational lotteries are structured under audit-court pressure.
The revised notice kept the estimated contract value at R$51.4 million and reduced the minimum gross revenue share payable to the state from 16.17% to 14.33%. While bidders are still evaluated heavily on the percentage they commit to transfer, the change signaled an attempt to rebuild competition after earlier legal and regulatory friction.
Lotesul’s tender seeks to hire a specialist operator to implement and run the technology platform supporting lottery operations across channels. Key provisions emphasize state control over critical assets at the end of the contract, including ownership of source code and operational data, reflecting a wider trend in Brazil toward tighter governance of public gaming infrastructure.
Mato Grosso do Sul reopens Lotesul tender with low...
But the relaunch quickly ran into fresh turbulence. Local reporting indicates the government suspended the bidding on 15 December, the same day proposals were due, following renewed complaints and ongoing concerns linked to the State Audit Court (TCE-MS). A subsequent report said the tender accumulated multiple denunciations and that the court’s rapporteur called senior officials to provide explanations over alleged inconsistencies in the updated instrument.
The latest reset follows months of controversy after the previous process was frozen and annulled amid criticism over technical justifications, proportionality of clauses and competitiveness risks. For the wider industry, the message is clear: Brazil’s state-level lottery opportunities remain attractive, but procurement design and audit resilience are now as decisive as commercial ambition.
