Chamber approves urgency for bill that allocates 5% of lottery proceeds to the National Health Fund.

Bill 3042/20 allocates 5% of the total revenue from the sale of bets and tickets for numerical lotteries (such as Mega-Sena and Quina), the Federal Lottery, and Lotex (scratch-off tickets), all operated by Caixa Econômica Federal, to the National Health Fund (FNS) during the state of public calamity resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. The proposal is being processed under an urgency procedure, approved by the Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies.

The 5% allocated to the National Sports Fund (FNS) will be subtracted from the percentage collected from bets that is currently used to pay prizes and income tax on the winnings. For example, currently, 65% of the revenue from scratch-off ticket sales goes to prizes and income tax. The proposed project reduces this percentage to 60%.

The National Health Fund (FNS) is the financial manager of resources allocated to the Unified Health System (SUS). Most of the funds are transferred to states and municipalities through transfers to state and municipal health funds, or through instruments such as agreements and cooperation terms.

The author of the bill, Representative Alexandre Frota (PSDB-SP), states that reinforcing the FNS budget is an emergency solution to support the SUS (Unified Health System), which is overburdened with Covid-19 patients. The measure will also prevent the federal government from having to resort to external loans to pay for the measures taken to combat the coronavirus.

Last year, the 10 lottery modalities operated by Caixa raised R$ 16,7 billion, the highest nominal value in history. Mega-Sena, Lotofácil and Quina account for the largest share of the revenue (respectively, 43%, 26% and 17%). ( Agência Câmara de Notícias )

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