In a statement issued this week, SECAP – the planning department of Brazil’s Finance & Economic Ministry – has confirmed that it will allow national bank CAIXA to increase prices across its lottery products range.

Effective 2020, CAIXA will be allowed to increase its ticket prices on its eight lottery products by an average of 28%. The update sees CAIXA implement its first ticket price increase since May 2015.

In its missive, SECAP detailed that CAIXA has been allowed to increase lottery prices in order to maintain ‘sustainable economic growth in the coming years’, and in light of Brazil expanding its lottery market next year.

The statement noted: “This will contribute to maximizing the management portfolio of lottery products, providing the Public Company with better conditions to cope with the competitive environment in the lottery market.”

This October, following seven failed attempts BNDES – Brazil’s national development bank – sanctioned the sale of state-owned instant win operator LOTEX to 50/50 IGT and Scientific Games Corp (SGC) joint venture ‘Consórcio Estrela Instantânea’.

The IGT-SGC joint-venture secured a 15-year concession, having been the only incumbent to have participated in the BNDES tender process. Paying an upfront tender of R$97m, the IGT-SGC joint-venture of LOTEX will begin by mid-2020.