In an interview with the column PlatôBR of IstoÉ Dinheiro, Regis Dudena, Secretary of Prizes and Betting, stated that this practice has already begun to be tracked and will count against PIs in the future.
“These institutions are beginning to realize that if they operate illegally, this will be taken into account when they apply for full authorization from the Central Bank. We have already issued notifications and, in cases of recidivism, the reports are also sent to the Federal Police,” he said.
Currently, for a payment institution to require formal authorization from the Central Bank, it must either register transactions above R$ 500 million (US$92m) within 12 months or maintain at least R$ 50 million (US$9.2m) in prepaid accounts. Below these thresholds, institutions remain outside direct supervision, creating room for misuse by illegal betting operators.
The fixed-odds betting market has been regulated for just over six months. At present, 78 companies are authorized, with 17.7 million Brazilians registered across 182 platforms. During this period, the SPA, in cooperation with the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), has taken down 15,463 illegal websites and ordered the blocking of bank accounts linked to irregular betting — in the last six months alone, 255 player accounts and 45 corporate accounts have been closed.
“What we are doing is showing these institutions that the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting is also a regulator. There is no point in thinking they only have to answer to the Central Bank. If they are identified as financing illegal activities, this will be recorded in their history,” he added.
Authorized companies generated R$ 17.4 billion (US$3.2bn) in gross revenue in the first half of 2025. Tax collection totaled R$ 3.8 billion (US$699m), with an additional R$ 2.2 billion (US$405m) collected in licensing fees. In total, 17.7 million Brazilians have already placed bets on one of the 182 legalized platforms.
Source: IstoÉ Dinheiro
