The Secretariat of Gambling and Betting (SPA) of Brazil's Ministry of Finance has sent a new list to the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to block an additional 1,443 online gambling and sports betting sites.
This latest action is part of the government's ongoing efforts to regulate the online gambling market and curb illegal operations.
This is the second list sent to Anatel. The first list was sent on October 11, to help the telecommunications regulatory body determine the scope of the block, which included over 2,000 internet domains.
The purpose of the block is to prevent illegal gambling companies from continuing to operate in Brazil, as they did not submit an application for operational authorization before September 17.
Although Anatel will notify approximately 21,000 telecommunications providers nationwide to implement the block, the entire process may take several days to complete.
Neither SPA nor Anatel has publicly released a detailed list of the blocked sites. However, on October 1, the Ministry of Finance published a list of operators authorized to operate.
As of October 18, the national list included 219 gambling sites from 100 companies, which also obtained specific state licenses.
The process of identifying and blocking illegal operators is more complex than authorizing legal operators. The Ministry of Finance must provide legal justification for each authorization denial, which may cause delays in updating the negative list.
Starting January 1, 2024, only authorized operators will be allowed to provide online gambling services in Brazil. SPA is currently reviewing pending applications and expects to release the final list of authorized companies by the end of December.
