The Ministry of Finance has announced that sports betting houses that have not yet requested authorization to operate in the country will soon be suspended. The measure published in SPA-MF Ordinance No. 1,475/2024 vale from October 1, 2024.
The government's idea is to reduce the chance of fraudulent betting houses or those used for known money laundering crimes continuing to operate. The procedure will take into account the list of companies in the sector that have already requested permission from the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA).
In practice, this means that from October until the end of December this year, Only “bets” that were already operating before will be able to operate in the country in the region and are willing to accept regulation of the sector. This is the deadline stipulated by the ministry itself to analyze the requests that are already in the regularization queue.
Websites that decide to no longer operate in Brazil must make the sites available to users by October 10thallowing withdrawals from those who still have money deposited in these institutions.
Betting regulation in Brazil is coming soon
Sports betting regulations in Brazil were established by Law No. 13,756/2018 and Law No. 14,790/2023, in addition to parallel measures by the Ministry of Finance. The new rules came into effect on January 1, 2025.
The license to operate in the country involves the payment of R$30 million to the Union, in addition to a series of guarantees that indicate the veracity of the service and the capacity to process payments and prizes.
Betting rules in Brazil come into effect next year.Source: GettyImages
“We will maintain the adaptation period until the end of December only for those who have already demonstrated that they want to act in accordance with the law, in accordance with Brazilian rules. Many police operations involving companies that operate in the betting market in a criminal manner have come to light,” says Regis Dudena, Secretary of Prizes and Bets at the ministry, speaking of “separating the wheat from the chaff” in advance.
The secretary also mentioned that one of the objectives is to “protect the mental, financial and physical health of the bettor”, but measures on these topics must still be detailed before the new rules begin.