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More than 70 operators have been provisionally approved to launch on day one of Brazil’s regulated online market from January 1, according to the country’s chief gambling regulator.
Testifying before a special Senate committee on Tuesday (December 10), the head of Brazil’s Secretariat for Prizes and Bets (SPA) said that 71 of 114 initial applicants for federal licences for online betting have been notified that their applications were deemed successful.
In accordance with a May licensing decree, companies that submitted applications prior to an August 20 deadline are eligible to go live from January 1, 2025 so long as they meet various qualification criteria.
Successful applicants then have 30 days to pay an upfront fee of US$30m (US$5m), submit technical compliance certifications, provide proof of legitimate source of funds and meet certain other pre-launch requirements.
A total of 16 companies already have paid the upfront licensing fee, SPA secretary Regis Dudena told senators.
Dudena was appearing before the Senate’s special investigation commission (CPI) formed to probe an online gambling market that is on the cusp of being fully regulated under a December 2023 federal law.
Through the course of a six-hour hearing, Dudena offered the somewhat hostile panel of senators a step-by-step explanation of the SPA’s process to implement the 2023 Law 14.790, including the transitional period afforded to operators under the law.
Among other things, Dudena explained that the SPA’s regulations on advertising do not include a watershed or other restrictions in part because specific amendments to that effect were rejected by Congress when the legislation was being debated last year.
He also said that the SPA was still working with Brazil’s central bank and other authorities to implement last month’s ruling by Brazil’s Supreme Court to ban Brazilians from gambling with funds received from federal welfare programmes.
Regulators are still trying to understand the scope of that decision and whether it extends beyond preventing the direct use of so-called Bolsa Familia cards as a deposit method, Dudena said.
Another item on the SPA’s agenda is preventing unlicensed operators from being able to access Brazil’s Pix instant payments system.
“It is not something trivial, but it is a regulatory path that we intend to engage in,” said the SPA chief.
Tuesday’s hearing was the fifth formal meeting of the Senate CPI that was formally established last month with a broad mandate to probe Brazil’s online gambling market.
Dudena is among dozens of expert witnesses that have been called to appear before the commission, which has an initial period of 130 days to conduct its investigation before preparing a formal report that will include a variety of policy recommendations.
The Senate CPI is not the only forum in which Brazilian policymakers are scrutinising the nascent regulatory framework that is set to become fully effective at the start of 2025.
On Monday, the Brazilian federal government’s ministries of finance, sport, health and social communications announced a formal working group to address concerns of responsible gambling in the forthcoming regulated market.
The interministerial group will hold bi-weekly meetings over the next 60 days to consider potential public education campaigns and whether additional regulatory actions may be necessary to prevent and mitigate problem gambling.
In a separate development prior to Dudena’s appearance before the CPI on Tuesday, the SPA also announced a formal cooperation agreement with Brazilian telecoms regulator Anatel to block the websites of illegal operators.
More than 5,000 illegal sites already have been blocked since October 1, but the new agreement will “guarantee greater efficiency in the process”, the SPA said.
