The Brazilian Ministry of Finance's Secretariat of Prizes and Lotteries (SPA) reports that illegal casinos are using payment institutions (PIs) that operate below the Central Bank's regulatory threshold to transfer funds, with some platforms remaining active despite operational blocks.
Regis Dudena, the Minister of Prizes and Lotteries, stated that regulatory authorities have begun tracking these violations and will take necessary actions against the involved companies. "These institutions must realize that if there is illegal activity, it will be considered when applying for full operational authorization from the Central Bank. We have formally notified them that if violations occur again, we will report to the Federal Police," Dudena added.
Currently, payment institutions only need to obtain formal authorization from the Central Bank when their total transactions exceed 500 million reais (about 91 million USD) in 12 months, or when the prepaid account balance exceeds 50 million reais (about 9.1 million USD). Payment institutions below these thresholds are not directly regulated, providing a loophole for illegal gambling to exploit. SPA noted that some illegal platforms ensure their operations go undetected by regulatory bodies by keeping transaction amounts below these thresholds.
The regulation of Brazil's fixed-odds betting market has just completed six months. During this period, 78 companies have been authorized, covering 182 platforms, with approximately 17.7 million registered users. Additionally, SPA has coordinated with the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to block 15,463 illegal websites and freeze related bank accounts. In the past six months, only 255 gambling accounts and 45 company accounts have been closed.
Dudena emphasized that SPA is responsible not only for administrative management but also for regulatory duties. "The Secretariat of Prizes and Lotteries is also a regulatory body and should not rely solely on the Central Bank's regulation. If payment institutions fund illegal activities, this will be recorded and impact their future operations," he warned.
In contrast, the franchised gambling industry has shown robust performance. In the first half of 2025, franchised companies generated a total revenue of 17.4 billion reais (about 3.2 billion USD), of which 3.8 billion reais (about 698 million USD) were tax revenues, and an additional 2.2 billion reais (about 404 million USD) came from franchise fees.
As illegal gambling activities increasingly come under scrutiny, SPA states that it will continue to strengthen monitoring of low-regulation payment institutions and cooperate with law enforcement to crack down on violations, ensuring the healthy development and legal operation of Brazil's gambling market.
