Campinas halts municipal lottery project indefinitely

The Brazilian municipality of Campinas has suspended the creation of its municipal lottery, Locamp, for an indefinite period.

This follows a Supreme Court (STF) injunction that prohibited municipalities from creating or operating lottery and fixed-odds betting services.

The decision was formalized in the city's Official Gazette, halting all stages of the ongoing Expression of Interest Procedure (PMI), which had been evaluating the technical and economic structure of Locamp.

According to the municipal administration, the suspension covers meetings, technical assessments and the analysis of studies submitted by participating companies.

While these materials remain archived within the process, there is no projected timeline for the initiative to resume.

There will be no reimbursement to participating companies until the STF issues a final ruling on the matter.

The injunction froze all municipal laws, decrees and licensing procedures related to lotteries and betting. The order also applies to lotteries already operating, imposing a daily fine of BR500,000 ($92,280) on municipalities and companies that continue offering the service.

The case argued that municipalities had begun creating local lotteries and authorizing operators without federal approval.

In the ruling, the Court warned that "this diffuse and decentralized system promotes a 'drastic emptying' of federal oversight and makes the standardization of rules, advertising parameters and consumer-protection mechanisms harder."

Campinas had planned to launch Locamp in the second half of 2026, with three companies qualified to present operational studies.

Of total revenue, 13% would go to the municipality, with the remainder, after expenses, allocated to the contracted operator.

The lottery would have been able to offer any modality authorized under federal legislation, from scratchcards to number-draw games and sports products.