Brazil supreme court rules lottery monopoly to be unconstitutional

Brazil’s Supreme Court has found the federal government’s lottery monopoly to be unconstitutional.

The Federal Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that although the federal government has the exclusive right to legislate how lotteries may be operated, it does not have the exclusive right to operate a lottery as a monopoly.

The court said that lotteries are a public service that cannot be restricted by the federal government under the constitution of Brazil, as they provide essential funds for social programmes.

The unanimous ruling is in response to legal challenges against the federal monopoly by the State of Rio de Janeiro and the Brazilian Association of State Lotteries.

It remains to be seen what effect the ruling will have on individual state's ability to operate their own lotteries.