Brazil’s Ministry of Finance has published a new ordinance in the Official Gazette to regulate the transfer of gambling data in the upcoming regulated online market. 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, including Article 3. This provision notes that player data and funds can be received by all national or foreign license holders, and transferred to legal financial institutions, only through an authorization issued by the SPA.
Companies looking to enter the market from January will have until December 13th to request such authorization. This deadline can be extended under Article 5 of the ordinance if the 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“The resources owned by the bettors in transactional accounts in the sending legal entities that have not been withdrawn or transferred in accordance with Art. 7, until March 31st, 2025, must be transferred to the deposit or payment account registered by the bettor in the sending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 states.
The Secretariat outlined that companies who fail to request SPA authorization under the new ordinance or have been rejected for approval will not be able to adequately operate in the regulated market going forward.
“The Ordinance also determines that companies that have not obtained a license to operate sports betting and online games must close all open bets by December 31, 2024, transferring the available funds to the checking account registered on the platform by bettors,” it stated.
If the bettors have not indicated an account to receive the funds and after the company has attempted to return the funds by March 31, 2025, all funds must be returned to the Student Financing Fund and the National Fund for Public Disasters, Protection and Civil Defense.
In preparation for the launch of the market, the SPA has also 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.
SPA President Regis Dudena
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 new market would be announced.
Dudena remains optimistic about the 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’s federal online gambling marketplace.
