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Brazil’s Ministry of Finance has cut off access to licensed betting platforms for 2.8 million welfare recipients including beneficiaries of Bolsa Família and the Continuous Cash Benefit (BPC), as authorities move to enforce a Supreme Federal Court ruling that bars the use of social‑programme funds for gambling.
According to ministry data, the block affects 10.4% of the 27 million people covered by the two programmes and 11.2% of the roughly 25 million Brazilians who tried to place at least one bet in 2025.
All Bolsa Família and BPC beneficiaries are now prohibited from registering with regulated operators, but the 2.8 million who already held accounts have been actively removed. Licensed betting companies are required to run fortnightly checks on their customer databases to identify and exclude social‑programme recipients.
Operators can verify status via Sigap, the Betting Management System run by state technology firm Serpro, using the bettor’s CPF tax ID. The system returns a clear indication of whether the individual is a beneficiary, flagged as “blocked” or “not blocked” for access.
Officials say this automated vetting is currently limited to Bolsa Família and BPC, even though the law also prohibits betting by public servants working in the sector, professional athletes, referees, club officials, inspectors, coaches and individuals diagnosed with gambling disorder; those groups are expected to self‑declare and refrain from gambling.
Alongside the social‑programme block, more than 925,000 people have registered with Brazil’s centralised self‑exclusion platform, which allows users to bar themselves from all betting sites authorised by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) for a chosen period.
The ban can be set for a fixed term or indefinitely; in the open‑ended option, users may lift the restriction only after 12 months. Authorities note that some registrants may never have gambled, having signed up on precautionary advice to prevent misuse of their CPF by third parties.
Industry representatives warn that the current framework leaves a gap, as self‑excluded users and social‑programme beneficiaries can still access illegal betting sites operating outside SPA oversight. Unlicensed operators do not pay the R$ 30 million licence fee, do not contribute tax, and are not subject to advertising‑conduct rules or the centralised self‑exclusion system.
