Legislation
Brazil’s government green lights gambling expansion with new ordinance
By James - 23 May 2024
The Secretariat of Prizes and Betting of the Ministry of Finance (SPA/MF) has published Ordinance SPA/MF No. 827 outlining the rules and conditions for obtaining authorization to commercially exploit online sports betting and casino games by private economic operators throughout Brazil.
To obtain authorization from the SPA/MF operators must meet criteria related to five categories: legal qualification, fiscal and labour regularity, integrity, economic-financial qualification, and technical qualification.
These criteria were established to provide more protection to bettors, ensuring that authorized companies have a corporate governance structure compatible with the complexity, specialised nature, and associated risks of the business according to a government press release.
In addition to high economic-financial capacity, authorized operators must have a headquarters and customer service channel in Brazil, adhere to policies for preventing money laundering and terrorism financing, responsible gaming, betting integrity, and result manipulation prevention, as well as adopt good advertising and marketing practices.
If all the criteria established in the Ordinance are met, and upon payment of BRL 30 million to the government, operators will be authorized to operate up to three commercial brands nationwide for a period of five years.
The Ordinance sets a deadline until the end of 2024 for obtaining authorization by companies that were active in Brazil at the time of the publication of Law No. 14,790 on December 29, 2023. As of January 1, 2025, companies without SPA/MF authorization will be subject to pertinent penalties.
The review period is up to 180 days, but as a transition rule, companies that apply for authorization within the first 90 days will receive a response this year. For all those authorized in this first group, the authorization ordinances will be published on the same day. SPA/MF expects to issue the first authorizations by the end of the second half of 2024.
