Tema 1323 lottery delegation needs licitação: Status, Rulings and What It Means for Players

What this case is about

RE 1498128 (Tema 1323), Loteria Fort Ltda v. Estado do Ceará, is an appeal decided by the Supremo Tribunal Federal (Plenário Virtual), the Brazilian supreme court, under docket 0118313-11.2019.8.06.0001 in its origin. The question was whether a private company may run a lottery product similar to Lotece's "Loteria dos Sonhos" without state delegation.

Loteria Fort, a private company from Fortaleza, was the appellant and the State of Ceará the respondent.

The appeal reached the STF on 8 June 2024 from the 3ª Turma Recursal of the Court of Justice of Ceará (TJCE), and the court registered it as the representative case for the subject on 2 July 2024. It is one of the Lottery Lawsuits on the site.

Who is covered

The thesis binds pending similar cases in Brazil. It affects private companies that run, or want to run, lottery products, and the states and municipalities that delegate lottery services.

Players are not parties. The ruling decides who may lawfully offer a lottery, which the Gambling Lawsuits in Brazil page places among the other Brazilian cases.

Is there a payout?

No payout exists in this case. It decided a question of constitutional law on who may operate a lottery, and the record shows no fund, damages or claim process.

GamblingLawsuits.org is not a law firm and not a claims administrator.

What the court decided

The STF decided the case unanimously in the Plenário Virtual between 20 and 28 September 2024 and published the result on 1 October 2024. The status is judgment, as of 14 November 2026.

The thesis reads: "A execução do serviço público de loteria por agentes privados depende de delegação estatal precedida de licitação." In plain words, private agents may run the public service of lottery only through state delegation that follows a public tender (licitação).

The ruling reaffirms the court's earlier reading in ADPFs 492 and 493. The rapporteur was Ministro Presidente Luís Roberto Barroso. No further steps are listed in the record.

Why it matters

Tema 1323 reaffirms the court's earlier doctrine as a thesis that binds every pending similar case. Private lottery operation needs state delegation preceded by a tender.

No settlement is involved here. Cases that did produce money for claimants are listed in the Gambling Settlements by Year and Amount tracker.

Related cases

• ADPF 492 challenged the federal lottery monopoly of Decree-Law 204/1967 and was brought by the Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
• ADPF 1212 is a filed case by Partido Solidariedade against municipal laws and decrees creating municipal lotteries and bets.

Questions people ask

What does Tema 1323 say about lotteries?

Tema 1323 says that private agents can run the public lottery service only with state delegation that follows a public tender. The STF fixed this thesis unanimously on 28 September 2024, and it binds pending similar cases.

Who were the parties in RE 1498128?

The appellant was Loteria Fort Ltda, a private company from Fortaleza, and the respondent was the Estado do Ceará. The case concerned a product similar to Lotece's "Loteria dos Sonhos".

Can players claim money under Tema 1323?

No. The decision sets a rule on who may operate lotteries and awards no money. The record shows no fund, claim process or damages for players.