Caixa Lotteries has opened 2026 on a strong note, generating BRL 5.97 billion in gross revenue during the first quarter of the year a result that underscores the continued resilience of Brazil’s federal lottery system even as the broader gambling landscape around it remains politically turbulent.
The Q1 figure follows a year in which Caixa Lotteries transferred more than BRL 12.2 billion to social programmes in 2025, a total practically equal to the BRL 12.19 billion distributed in 2024 and representing a significant jump from the BRL 9.2 billion recorded in 2023. The steady growth in social transfers reflects not only the scale of lottery revenue being generated across Caixa’s 12 active modalities, but also the legal framework that mandates 48 percent of federal lottery revenue be directed toward specific public beneficiaries — a mechanism that has been in place, in various forms, since Caixa was delegated management of federal lotteries by the Union back in 1962.
The social transfer breakdown from 2025 gives clear context to what is at stake. Social security absorbed the largest portion nearly BRL 4.47 billion, or approximately 44 percent of direct transfers. Public security received BRL 2.55 billion, split between the National Public Security Fund and the National Penitentiary Fund. The sports sector received BRL 1.93 billion, with the Ministry of Sport taking the largest individual share at BRL 641 million, followed by the Brazilian Olympic Committee with BRL 452.8 million, State and Federal District Sports Secretariats with BRL 254.5 million, and the Brazilian Paralympic Committee with BRL 251.7 million.
The Paralympic relationship in particular has deepened significantly in recent months. Caixa Lotteries and the Brazilian Paralympic Committee renewed their long-standing sponsorship arrangement, with the deal described as the largest in the history of Brazilian Paralympic sport. Over more than two decades of partnership, the total investment has surpassed BRL 500 million, directly supporting the preparation of Brazilian athletes for national and international competitions as well as social and educational projects across schools and community centres. Brazil has consistently ranked among the top ten nations in the last four editions of the Paralympic Games a trajectory the Caixa partnership has helped sustain.
The quarter also came against a backdrop of considerable institutional complexity for Caixa Lotteries beyond its core lottery operations. The organisation had been expected to launch its sports betting brand in 2026, having received a five-year licence from the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting. However, those plans were formally halted amid a combination of political pressure, regulatory uncertainty, and an active inquiry from the Federal Court of Accounts into the use of a BRL 30 million licence payment while the platform remained unlaunched. The decision to freeze the rollout rather than push ahead reflects the difficult position Caixa occupies as a state entity — unable to openly oppose government policy while simultaneously navigating a commercial environment that has grown significantly more complicated since sports betting was legalised.
Despite the betting arm’s stalled launch, the core lottery business continues to perform. The third quarter of 2025 alone generated BRL 6.4 billion in revenue 9.9 percent higher than the equivalent period in 2024 with legal transfers of BRL 2.4 billion flowing to federal social programmes during those three months. The Q1 2026 figure of BRL 5.97 billion, while slightly lower than the peak Q3 performance, is consistent with the seasonal patterns the business has historically shown, with volumes typically building through the year and peaking in December around the Mega da Virada draw.
For Brazil’s iGaming market, Caixa Lotteries remains one of the most important structural pillars not as a competitor to private betting operators, but as the public institution whose revenues fund the social programmes that give the government its strongest argument for maintaining a regulated rather than prohibitionist approach to gambling. How that role evolves in the months ahead, as the political debate around the Bets Law intensifies, is a question with consequences well beyond the lottery sector itself.
