Brazil Bans Online Betting Before Election, Keeps $492M in Licensing Fees

A Seismic iGaming Change Simply Earlier than Presidential Vote

Brazil’s Provisional Measure 1,394 was revealed in an additional version of the official gazette on the night of Sept. 25 and took impact instantly. It prohibits the operation, providing, intermediation and promoting of all fixed-odds betting in Brazil, overlaying actual sporting occasions and on-line on line casino video games alike.

The ban explicitly reaches operators based mostly overseas that serve individuals in Brazil, and it additionally ends betting concessions granted by Brazilian states. Different lotteries licensed by legislation are exempt. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed it at a ceremony in São Paulo, the place Finance Minister Dario Durigan introduced the measure. The transfer follows per week of reviews that the federal government was drafting a ban by decree.

New deposits have been barred since publication. In accordance with the federal government’s timetable, bettors have till 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 5 to withdraw their balances, and licensed websites and apps go darkish from midnight on Oct. 6. Bets not settled by then are void and refunded in full. Operators then have two days to ship every buyer’s stability to their banks, recognized by taxpayer quantity (CPF). Banks have seven days to return the cash: the federal government units that window at Oct. 9–14, with the state-owned financial institution Caixa Econômica Federal dealing with something that third-party monetary establishments can’t return. Operators that miss these obligations face a fantastic of $38,600 (R$200,000) per day.

The licenses, issued after the regulated market’s January 2025 opening and notionally for 5 years, will expire 30 days after the legislation’s publication, on October 25. The measure says the cancellation is within the public curiosity and provides operators no proper to a full or partial refund of their license charges, or to any compensation. In accordance with the federal government, it granted 85 licenses at $5.8 million (R$30 million) every, for a complete of $492 million. Pending purposes are void. All betting promoting and sponsorship is banned, and current materials should come down inside 10 days. Web platforms get a authorized responsibility to cease betting content material from circulating, and app shops and working programs should block banned apps. Penalties vary from warnings to fines of as much as 10% of a bunch’s Brazilian income, and to suspension for repeat offenders.

Together with Digital Property

Whereas the measure itself by no means mentions crypto, the companion invoice Lula despatched to Congress the identical day mentions processing, settling or intermediating betting funds “together with by means of digital belongings,” in accordance with the Justice Ministry. It might carry two to 4 years of jail, with a harsher sentence for concealing the place the funds got here from. The invoice nonetheless wants each homes of Congress, and its full textual content has not but been revealed within the Chamber of Deputies’ register.

When the federal government gained the ability to freeze unlawful operators’ funds in June, forfeiture required a courtroom ruling. Below the brand new textual content, it’s declared in an administrative continuing during which the operator can current a protection, “and won’t rely upon prior judicial course of.” Seized monies go to the Nationwide Public Safety Fund. Brazil already banned sports activities and political prediction contracts in April.

The Nationwide Affiliation of Video games and Lotteries (ANJL) stated it was “taking acceptable measures to overturn the provisional measure by taking the matter to courtroom,” calling it “a transfer unprecedented within the international business – aimed solely at perceived electoral achieve within the race for the presidency,” iGaming Enterprise reported.

Affiliate Higher Collective lower its 2026 income progress steering to three–8% and its shares fell about 25% in Stockholm. “Eradicating that regulated market won’t get rid of the underlying demand for betting,” co-CEO Jesper Søgaard stated in an announcement. “As an alternative, it dangers pushing hundreds of thousands of gamers towards illicit offshore operators that haven’t made these investments, pay no native taxes and function with out the identical participant protections.”

European lottery group Allwyn stated its Betano model is “getting ready authorized motion to guard its rights in Brazil.” Entain stated it was “dissatisfied by this sudden improvement,” which got here “with out session of business stakeholders,” and now expects to land on the low finish of its 2026 earnings steering, InterGame reported.

Lawmakers can file amendments till Oct. 1. As a result of the measure’s clock pauses through the congressional recess, Allwyn expects it to remain in pressure till early March 2027 even when lawmakers by no means vote on it. Legal professionals who spoke to Estadão questioned whether or not the measure meets the constitutional take a look at of urgency required for provisional measures. An Atlas/Bloomberg ballot launched days earlier than the announcement discovered 75% of Brazilians assist prohibiting on-line betting.

“It’s like a most cancers. Both we do away with the tumor, or this tumor will kill us,” Lula stated after signing the measure. His most important challenger, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro and the Liberal Occasion (PL) candidate, referred to as it “populist, hypocritical and electioneering.” He says he backs a ban on on-line on line casino video games however needs to maintain sports activities betting authorized. The ban was a significant situation all through the marketing campaign: AtlasIntel CEO Andrei Roman informed Exame that measures like this mobilize voters greater than they alter votes.