Legislation
Brazil’s Ministry of Finance unveils regulatory policy and agenda for online gambling sector
By James - 15 April 2024
The recently established gaming board Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas no Ministério da Fazenda (SPA) has published an ordinance outlining the steps it will take over the coming months in order to establish the framework for regulating online gambling.
The agenda is divided into phases to address key topics. Published in the Official Gazette, the new Ordinance outlines the guidelines that SPA will follow and establishes a schedule for the implementation of measures by the end of the first semester of this year.
Ordinance SPA/MF No. 561 was published last week (April 8th). The SPA will need to set out the main parameters by the end of July 2024. There will be four phases of execution: the first phase until the end of April, the second until the end of May, the third until the end of June, and the fourth and final phase, scheduled to be completed by the end of July 2024.
According to a Ministry of Finance press release the measure “aims primarily to systematically structure the Regulatory Agenda for fixed odds betting in the country and represents a significant advance in the management and supervision of this sector. The ordinance provides legal certainty, ensures predictability and efficiency to the regulatory process, and thus solidifies the foundations for a stable and reliable betting environment in Brazil.”
Phase 1, which will be published this month, covers an aspect of the industry which has already been put in place namely the ordinance covering the authorisation of laboratory certification. Authorization Ordinance (ordinance MF-SPA/MF nº 300) was published in February 2024. It defined the accreditation rules for testing laboratories for sports betting and the online casino game sector. In March Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) became the first laboratory to achieve accreditation to certify for betting systems, live game studios, and online games to be used by fixed-odds lottery operators by the SPA.
Phase 1 also includes establishing the general rules to be observed over payment methods, technical requirements, and security of betting systems used by operators for the exploitation of sports betting, and the rules, conditions, and opening of the procedure for requesting authorization for the commercial exploitation of fixed odds betting throughout the national territory.
Phase 2 covers regulations over the prevention of money laundering and other crimes as well as compliance and the requirements and procedures for the qualification of live game studios and online games that may be made available to bettors.
Phase 3 of the regulatory agenda will include the publication of three other ordinances: technical requirements and security of online games that may be made available to bettors by authorized agents, monitoring and supervision rules of the activity, and the ordinance addressing sanctioning action, detailing the procedure for the application of administrative sanctions.
In phase 4 of the schedule, two ordinances will be published. The first refers to responsible gaming, establishing guidelines and practices to monitor and prevent pathological gambling, among other measures. The second details the procedures for the realization of social destinations, ensuring that contributions from the betting industry benefit society in a systematic and transparent manner.
The federal government published Presidential Decree 11,907/2024, which established the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas no Ministério da Fazenda) in February and it went in to operation that same month. The SPA will comprise of three divisions and will be responsible for issuing licences, monitoring and compliance and the imposing of sanctions and fines.
