SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Brazil’s Ministry of Finance has published a new ordinance in the Official Gazette to regulate the transfer of gambling data in the upcoming market.
As per SBC Brasil, Ordinance No. 1,857 of the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) “regulates the transfer of data and funds of bettors of the lottery modality bet of fixed quota between legal entities of the same economic group, and provides for the cases in which this transfer cannot be carried out”.
Included in the ordinance are several articles to better frame the upcoming regulation. One of them is article 3, which states that player data and funds can be received by all national or foreign licence holders, and transferred to legal financial institutions, only through an authorisation issued by SPA.
Gambling businesses looking to enter the market from January will have until 13 December to request such authorisation. This deadline can be additionally extended under article 5 of the ordinance if SPA requests additional information with the application.
Furthermore, under article 7 players gain the right to a full withdrawal by transferring funds to a payments account registered with a financial institution that is authorised by the Central Bank of Brazil.
“The resources owned by the bettors in transactional accounts in the sending legal entities that have not been withdrawn or transferred in accordance with art. 7, until March 31, 2025, must be transferred to the deposit or payment account registered by the bettor in the sending legal entity and recorded in the accounting balances of the receiving legal entity,” Ordinance 1,857 stated.
SPA explicitly outlined that companies who fail to request SPA authorisation under the new ordinance, or have been rejected for an approval, will not be able to adequately operate in the market going forward.
In preparation for the launch of the Bets Market, the SPA has issued specific technical ordinances outlining compliance requirements in areas such as IT security protocols, licensing standards, payment processing, anti-money laundering (AML) measures, game regulations, and responsible gambling practices.
Last week, SPA President Regis Dudena informed the government and relevant authorities that the SPA had commenced the final licensing procedures, during which the first qualified operators for the Bets Market would be announced.
Dudena remains optimistic of the Bets Market’s planned launch in January 2025 but continues to closely monitor regulatory developments, as additional restrictions and technical demands could potentially delay the launch of Brazil federal online gambling marketplace.
Regardless of the exact date of its launch however, Brazil is shaping up to become one of the highest valued regulated markets in the world, with experts predicting online sports betting and gaming annual revenues reaching around $4.9bn in just five years.
