This Friday (11), betting sites not listed on the authorized list by the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets of the Ministry of Finance will begin to be blocked nationwide. The list of companies exploiting the activity without meeting the requirements of Ordinance 1.475 was sent to the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), which has already communicated to the telephone companies to take down the irregular domains. See the list in this article.
That is, only the sites that are on the positive list of the Ministry of Finance will be allowed to operate nationally in Brazil, until December. Until the night of this Thursday (10), 96 companies with respectively 210 bets are able to remain online until the end of this year.
To identify these platforms, the SPA conducted extensive monitoring of websites and social networks, initially locating 2,040 suspicious domains, sent to Anatel for access blocking throughout Brazil.
By December, the Treasury must conclude the definitive analysis process of the first applications received, to verify which betting companies comply with all the determinations of Laws 13.756/2018 and 14.790/2023, in addition to more than ten ordinances of the SPA that regulate the activity.
The betting houses considered apt will need to pay a grant of R$ 30 million to start operating from January 1, 2025, when the regulated betting market in Brazil will begin. They will need to comply, permanently, with all the rules to combat fraud, money laundering, and abusive advertising, among others.
According to the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, starting this Friday, the law will effectively come into force as it was approved by the National Congress. “Who is not regular, nor in the process of regularization, goes offline”.
Companies that are not on the positive list, but still want to operate in the market, need to submit the necessary documentation to obtain definitive authorization. The Treasury has a deadline of 150 days to express itself on this matter, and the companies have another 30 days to pay the grant, totaling 180 days. “Unlike those that were online until now, they will only be able to go online after being authorized”, stated Haddad.
The measure mainly focuses on the integrity of the bettors, reminded the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Dario Durigan. According to him, this is the first measure with significant repercussions on the subject taken in Brazil.
“Only regular companies will remain standing. The user himself needs to have this awareness. We are doing a job of publicizing which sites respect Brazilian rules, will comply with the laws, and will protect, to some extent, the users, and which will not. Besides taking money from sites that are not regular, make your bets responsibly and for your leisure, on regular sites”, he said.
He reminded that, even after the takedown of the sites, it will continue to be the responsibility of the betting houses to ensure the means for bettors to raise the deposits they are entitled to.
“It is very relevant that the bettor understands that, for the sake of his mental and financial health, it is better to be in a regulated environment, where companies that actually want to comply with rules operate. Collaborating with illegal companies is contributing to companies that, at the limit, will defraud the bettors themselves. Therefore, it is very important to understand the separation of these two groups”, explained the Secretary of Prizes and Bets of the Ministry of Finance, Regis Dudena.
According to Dudena, there will be a permanent work of monitoring, by the Treasury, so that these sites do not return to operate in Brazil. “It is a very important first step that will be deepened and will be of continuous action both by the SPA and other government agencies for protection, especially of the bettors and the popular economy”, said the secretary.
Dudena emphasizes that companies not listed on the positive list of the Ministry of Finance are even prohibited from advertising, which includes, for example, the sponsorship of football clubs.
“The positive list will be the benchmark for everything that is regular in Brazil, both for the offer of bets and for advertising. We already see some movements of platforms, social networks, and associations of TV and radio broadcasting to ensure that advertisements are restricted to regular companies”.
The secretary recalled that the companies authorized to operate until December will also be monitored, since they are in a “probationary period”, while awaiting all the documentation to be analyzed for the definitive authorization process.
Companies that infringe any law in force in Brazil, such as the Consumer Defense Code and the Statute of the Child and Adolescent, run the risk of not obtaining the grant to operate, starting next year.
“The companies that are operating take responsibility for their actions. Even those who are currently on the positive list are also being analyzed and all their behavior will be taken into account until the final decision on the definitive authorization”, he warned.
Blocking
In total, 20,000 telecommunications companies were notified by Anatel to proceed with the takedown of the betting sites that, starting this Friday, will be illegal.
According to the president of Anatel, Carlos Baigorri, the time for the execution of the blockade will depend on the measures employed by the providers, according to their specificities. “Each company will take its technical measures and we will monitor to ensure that this blockade is done effectively and as quickly as possible”, guaranteed Baigorri.
In line with what Dudena and Durigan said, the president of Anatel reinforced the role of the citizen in combating illegal sites. He compared illegal betting markets to markets for contraband cigarettes and counterfeit products that threaten the population.
“When a citizen makes bets in a regulated environment, he is counting on all the protection of the State that created this environment precisely to guarantee his rights. In an unregulated environment, he is taking risks”, he added.
Rescue of values
"Who did not request accreditation will not be able to operate from now on, will have 10 days. These 10 days are more for the bettor than for the betting house, because there are many people who have financial resources deposited in the betting house", explained Fernando Haddad at the beginning of the month.
"So, the 10 days is for the person to check if they have a balance and ask for restitution. Otherwise, we would take it down immediately, but we will not do it to protect the savings of the eventual bettor", said Haddad to journalists.
And who does not redeem in time?
The federal government states that illegal bets have the duty to return to consumers the money deposited in the accounts, even after the sites go offline.
The withdrawal mechanism, however, may become more complicated. The betting houses will have to be responsible for the return, but the fact that they have refused to start the process of adaptation to the new legislation is an indication that the withdrawal may be difficult.
The government has not yet announced whether it will provide any official channel to assist customers who feel harmed by illegal bets.
Source: GMB
