Brazil has introduced sweeping new financial controls designed to cut off the money flows sustaining unlicensed online gambling operators targeting its rapidly growing market.
The Secretariat for Prizes and Betting, known as the SPA, will apply new measures to identify and disrupt financial transactions linked to unlicensed operators targeting Brazil’s online gambling market.
Published on 14 September, Ordinance SPA/MF No. 2,750/2026 establishes formal procedures to tackle the financial flows that have been supporting illegal gambling activity across the country.
The strategy places clear directives on licensed financial institutions including banks, payment processors, intermediaries, and online wallets handling individual transactions connected to gambling.
Financial service providers must monitor suspicious transactions, report evidence of illegal betting to the SPA, and comply with account-blocking notifications issued by the regulator.
Institutions are also required to introduce mechanisms preventing further payments from directly or indirectly financing unauthorised gambling operations in any capacity.
Several warning signs have been identified under the monitoring provisions, including frequent small or medium-value transfers from multiple senders, sudden spikes in transaction volumes, and references to betting or games in transaction descriptions.
Following an SPA notification, institutions holding an identified operator’s accounts must implement a block within 24 hours and confirm compliance to the SPA within 48 hours of taking that action.
Finance Minister Dario Durigan, who has led the Ministry of Finance since March after succeeding Fernando Haddad, has outlined his preference for tighter controls on online gambling in Brazil.
Addressing the taxation of betting operators, Durigan argued that the government’s approach was driven by fairness rather than simply a need for additional revenue: “It’s not that I want to collect taxes because I need the money. I want to collect taxes for the sake of equality: if a company sells cars, it pays taxes; if it sells drinks, it pays taxes.”
Rather than calling for an outright ban, Durigan reiterated his preference for “treating the activity similarly to tobacco, using tighter regulation and taxation to discourage participation.”
Durigan noted he was observing developments in Congress and the Senate, as the PT government and President Lula have vowed to repeal the Bets Law ahead of the October general election.
Despite his influential role in the governance of the Bets regime, Durigan confirmed that the Ministry of Finance had taken no formal position on the long-term future of online gambling in Brazil.
The regulatory tightening arrives as Receita Federal reported approximately R$7.3 billion, equivalent to around £1 billion, in federal tax receipts from betting and online gambling during the first half of 2026.
The agency is confident that tax receipts will more than double across the full year, surpassing the R$10 billion collected throughout the entirety of 2025.
