SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Regis Dudena, the President of the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA), has endorsed the launch of the Bets regime to establish a safe and regulated online gambling marketplace for Brazilian consumers.
In an in-depth interview with Exame, Dudena recounted the diligent work undertaken by the SPA in evaluating 100 licence applications over four months from businesses seeking to join the Bets market.
Overseen by the SPA and the Ministry of Finance, the application phase resulted in 66 out of 100 businesses being granted authorisation. Dudena revealed that the majority of rejections were due to “incomplete documentation, deficiencies, or suitability concerns.”
The SPA ensures that market entrants undergo rigorous compliance checks to confirm they are headquartered in Brazil, use financial institutions regulated by the Central Bank, adhere to strict rules on games, financial structures, money laundering prevention, and customer protection, with monitoring, inspection, and sanctioning processes in place to enforce compliance.
Focusing on the governance of a nascent market, Dudena noted that the SPA was collaborating with financial authorities and the Central Bank to curb unlicensed gambling and illegal transactions.
The collaboration will focus on “blocking financial flows” of unauthorised operators, with the SPA aiming to terminate the use of Pix as a payment option for unlicensed actors. Dudena explained:
“We are trying to identify a way to block the use of Pix to send money abroad. Basically, how it works today: you have companies that operated in Brazil until last year, both serious and less serious. They used intermediaries, who opened accounts in financial or payment institutions and centralised the funds from bets.
“These intermediaries sent the money to an exchange bank, which then sent the funds abroad, where the operating company was located. When we identify this flow, it will be possible to block this outflow of funds.”
As a regulator, the SPA faces ongoing enforcement challenges as Brazil transitions to a regulated jurisdiction. Dudena highlighted the persistent issue of illegal websites, as domain shutdowns often result in their reappearance under new IPs, necessitating continuous monitoring.
During the initial launch of regulated betting, Dudena stated that he would not provide forecasts on the market’s size, emphasising that exact revenue estimates for 2025 would depend on financial data collected from authorised companies. He stressed that the first year of regulation would provide key insights to evaluate and refine the market as needed.
“We do not yet have an exact forecast because we do not know the total volume of resources that the market will move. Now that we have started to receive financial data from companies, we will be able to better estimate annual revenue. We still have a high number of companies with pending authorisation requests. Some of them should be authorised early this year, which may generate new grants. There is a continuous flow of requests, so revenue will also continue to occur over time.”
President Dudena is aware of political pressures to protect society from the financial risks associated with gambling. He believes that the SPA can develop specific tools to mitigate risks to the mental and financial health of bettors, particularly among the poorest. However, Dudena opposes a ban, warning that such measures would push gambling into underground markets. Instead, he supports data-informed regulation as a more effective alternative to prohibition.
“It is not something that is set in stone, created once and never changed. What we intend to do now is observe how the market will react to the rules we have implemented and assess whether they are working as planned. We make decisions based on clear reasons and specific tools to mitigate problems identified in the sector. We are confident that we have got the balance right, but we know that situations may eventually arise that will require adjustments.”
Dudena concluded the interview by warning licensed operators that regulation is not static and adjustments will be made in response to market behaviour and new challenges.
