Brazil’s regulated betting market lasted less than two years. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed a provisional measure that ends fixed-odds betting, and licensed platforms must shut down from 6 October.
The measure has immediate legal force. Operators can no longer accept deposits, and bettors have until 5 October to withdraw their money before licensed websites and apps go dark at midnight on 6 October. Finance Minister Dario Durigan announced the decision. He argued that the rules brought in since the market launched had failed to answer the government’s worries about gambling harm and household finances.
The wind-down calendar
On 7 and 8 October, operators must consolidate remaining customer balances by CPF, the individual taxpayer number. From 9 to 14 October, they must return what is left to customers through their banking partners, even to people who never asked for a withdrawal. From 14 October the state bank Caixa Econômica Federal steps in wherever refunds hit trouble. The measure also cancels state and Federal District fixed-odds authorisations on the same timetable.
It reverses a policy the government pushed hard. Almost 90 companies won licences, each costing R$30 million for five years.
Prison terms and a court fight
Separate legislation is being prepared to create criminal penalties. Under the proposal, people who run, operate or promote betting could get four to six years in prison, and institutions that process betting payments two to four years. The government also plans to keep blocking unauthorised gambling sites and cutting off their payment channels after the licensed ones close.
Lula has often attacked the rapid growth of online betting, saying it has fed addiction and money problems in Brazilian households. He has also questioned how heavily football clubs depend on betting sponsors.
Operators will fight. The National Association of Games and Lotteries said it was “taking appropriate measures to overturn the provisional measure by taking the matter to court”, and warned that closing the licensed market would cost tax revenue and jobs while pushing consumers to illegal operators. The Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming said that shutting the market so soon after it began “will have significant economic and legal consequences”. Licensed operators could also seek compensation for fees and investments, though any government liability depends on future proceedings.
The provisional measure is already in force, but Brazil’s National Congress still has to consider it.
