How did Brazil's regulated betting market work?

In numbers

• R$ 2.55 bn

  paid for the licences

  85 licences at R$ 30 million each

  SourceMinistério da Saúde

• R$ 9.95 bn

  in federal taxes in 2025

  Gaming and betting activity. In 2024: R$ 91 million

  SourceFazenda

• 13%

  of revenue to purposes set by law

  Since April 2026. Before that, 12%

  SourcesPlanalto·Planalto

• 1.2 m

  self-exclusion requests

  Government platform, up to August 2026

  SourceFazenda

• 3 m

  welfare recipients blocked

  Bolsa Família and BPC, up to August 2026

  SourceFazenda

• 17,987

  illegal sites blocked by Sep 2025

  Out of 21,854 sent to Anatel, the telecom regulator

  SourceTCU

Who could operate

• Only companies licensed by the Ministry of Finance, through its Secretariat for Prizes and Betting (SPA). A licence could not be sold or transferred.
• Each licence cost up to R$ 30 million, lasted up to 5 years and covered up to 3 brands.
• There were 85 licences, totalling R$ 2.55 billion paid to the government.

SourcesMinistério da Saúde·Planalto

What they paid in tax

• A levy on revenue: of what bets brought in, minus prizes paid out, 12% went to purposes set by law. Of that money, 36% went to sport, 28% to tourism, 13.6% to public security, 10% to education, 10% to social security and 1% to health, to prevent gambling harm.
• In April 2026 the levy rose to 13%. Under Complementary Law 224 it would reach 14% in 2027 and 15% in 2028. The extra share was earmarked for the Federal Police.
• On top of that, they paid the taxes any company pays (corporate income tax, CSLL, PIS/Cofins and social security contributions) and a monthly supervision fee.
• Players paid 15% income tax on their net winnings for the year (prizes minus losses), only on the part above the tax-free band.
• According to the Federal Revenue Service, gaming and betting activity paid R$ 9.95 billion in federal taxes in 2025, against R$ 91 million in 2024. This group may include other gaming and lottery companies besides betting sites.

SourcesFazenda·Planalto·Planalto·TCU·Planalto

Player-protection rules

• Registration with facial recognition and identity checks. Under-18s could not bet.
• Spending and time limits set at registration. A request to raise a limit only took effect after 24 hours.
• Time-of-use alerts, breaks and self-exclusion. From December 2025, a government platform let people exclude themselves from all licensed companies at once, and companies had 72 hours to block the account.
• Offering bonuses to bet and lending money to players were banned.
• Paying for bets with a credit card, cash, bank slip, cryptocurrency or someone else's account was banned. Only Pix, bank transfers and debit or prepaid cards were allowed.
• Recipients of Bolsa Família and BPC welfare benefits were barred from betting by a Supreme Court decision, as were people who renegotiated debts under government programmes.
• Athletes, referees, club officials and the companies' own staff could not bet.

SourcesFazenda·Planalto·SPA/MF·DOU·Fazenda

Advertising rules

• Every ad had to carry an “18+” notice and a warning such as “Betting can be addictive”, taking up at least 10% of the ad.
• Advertising to minors, promising easy money or presenting betting as an investment or source of income was banned.
• Ads had to show the company's licence number.

SourcesPlanalto·SPA/MF

Supervision and penalties

• The law provided for fines of up to R$ 2 billion per breach, suspension, loss of licence and a ban of up to 10 years from the market.
• Companies had to report suspicious bets to Coaf, the anti-money-laundering unit, and signs of match-fixing to the government and prosecutors.
• In practice, by June 2026 there were 39 closed cases: 32 warnings and 7 fines, totalling about R$ 11 million. No licence was revoked. These figures were obtained by the press through Brazil's freedom-of-information law.
• By September 2025, 17,987 illegal sites had been blocked by Anatel. According to the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), 17.7% of the domains were repeat offenders.

SourcesTCU·Planalto·Folhapress, via Jornal de Brasília

What changes with MP 1,394

• Licences end on 25 October 2026. The measure says companies have no right to a refund of the licence fee or to compensation.
• The government itself estimates it will lose R$ 1.5 billion in revenue in 2026, R$ 5.2 billion in 2027 and R$ 5.3 billion in 2028.
• The rules on this page applied until the measure. Much of Law 14,790 now appears as revoked by it, and Congress still has to vote on the measure.

SourcesPlanalto·Senado

Myths and facts

What circulates about the regulated market, and what official documents show.

1. False“Betting companies didn't pay tax.”

   Licensed companies paid a levy on revenue plus the taxes any company pays. Gaming and betting activity paid R$ 9.95 billion in federal taxes in 2025, not counting the R$ 2.55 billion paid for licences.

   SourcesMinistério da Saúde·Fazenda

2. False“The government will refund the R$ 30 million licence fee.”

   MP 1,394 says the end of the licences gives no right to a full or partial refund of the amount paid, nor to compensation.

   SourcePlanalto

3. False“There were no responsible-gambling rules.”

   The law and the SPA's ordinance required facial recognition, spending and time limits, breaks, self-exclusion and a warning in every ad. The government self-exclusion platform received more than 1.2 million requests.

   SourcesFazenda·Planalto·SPA/MF

4. False“You could bet with a credit card and get a welcome bonus.”

   At licensed companies, credit cards and cryptocurrency were banned as payment methods, and so were bonuses to bet.

   SourcesPlanalto·DOU

5. False“The tax on betting went up to 18%.”

   A 2025 provisional measure proposed 18%, but the increase was dropped and the measure lapsed. What became law was a rise to 13% in 2026, 14% in 2027 and 15% in 2028.

   SourcesPlanalto·Planalto

6. Outdated“Bolsa Família recipients could bet freely.”

   Since October 2025, by Supreme Court decision, Bolsa Família and BPC recipients have been barred from betting with licensed companies. More than 3 million people were blocked.

   SourcesFazenda·SPA/MF

7. False“Regulation wiped out the illegal market.”

   By September 2025, almost 18,000 illegal sites had been blocked and 17.7% of the domains were repeat offenders, according to the TCU. A study commissioned by an industry association estimated that 38% to 44% of bets in the first half of 2026 still went to illegal sites.

   SourceTCU

8. Partly“Betting companies were never punished.”

   There were more than a hundred cases. By June 2026, 39 had closed, with 32 warnings and 7 fines totalling about R$ 11 million. No licence was revoked, although the law allowed fines of up to R$ 2 billion.

   SourcesPlanalto·Folhapress, via Jornal de Brasília

9. False“Anyone with a balance at a licensed site lost the money.”

   The measure orders the full balance and cancelled bets to be refunded, and prizes already settled to be paid, through the bank or, as a last resort, through Caixa.

   SourcePlanalto