Brazil’s ‘Bets Act’: Federal Licensing Requirements and Operational Pitfalls for 2026 Operators

Regulatory Architecture: From Law No. 13,756 to the Bets Act

Brazil’s fixed-odds betting market operates under a federal framework that has its roots in Law No. 13,756 of 12 December 2018, which first authorised sports betting on a national basis. That statute sat largely unimplemented for four years before Law No. 14,790 of 29 December 2023, widely referred to as the Lei das Bets or the Bets Act, established the full commercial and regulatory architecture. The Bets Act covers fixed-odds sports betting (apostas de quota fixa) and online gaming categories including casino-style games, and it granted the federal government, acting through the Ministry of Finance (MF) and its executing body the Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas (SPA), exclusive competence to authorise and supervise all such activity nationwide.

Implementing detail arrived through MF Ordinance No. 1,330 of 23 August 2024 (Portaria MF 1.330/2024), which set out the application procedure, fit-and-proper standards, technical requirements, and financial obligations that applicants must satisfy. Subsequent SPA normative instructions have added further procedural granularity on topics including data reporting, responsible gambling tools, and payment processing. Compliance teams should work from both the statute and the current normative instruction stack, as Portaria 1.330/2024 has been the primary operational reference for the first licensing cohort.

The Local Entity Requirement and Corporate Structure

One of the earliest structural traps for international operators entering Brazil has been underestimating the rigidity of the entidade brasileira requirement. Under the Bets Act and Portaria 1.330/2024, only a legal entity constituted under Brazilian law, domiciled in Brazil, and registered with the Receita Federal (Brazilian Federal Revenue Service) may hold a betting and gaming authorisation. Foreign branches, representative offices, and offshore holding companies contracting directly with Brazilian consumers do not satisfy this requirement.

In practice, operators must choose between a Sociedade Limitada (LTDA) and a Sociedade Anônima (S/A). The S/A structure is generally preferred by larger groups because it is better adapted to foreign investment mechanisms and future capital market activity, but it carries higher ongoing corporate governance obligations. Regardless of the vehicle chosen, the Brazilian entity must be the licence holder, must maintain a registered address in Brazil, and must have at least one locally resident director accountable to the SPA. Operators should instruct qualified Brazilian corporate counsel early, as the registration and tax enrolment process with the Junta Comercial and Receita Federal adds lead time that is frequently underestimated in project plans.

The R$30 Million Authorisation Fee: Structure and Practical Risks

The authorisation fee of R$30 million (approximately USD 6 million at mid-2024 exchange rates, though operators should apply current rates) is the single most discussed financial obligation in the Brazilian licensing regime, and also the one most frequently mischaracterised. Several points warrant precision.

First, the fee is non-refundable in all circumstances. Payment is a condition precedent to licence issuance, not a deposit held pending approval. If an application is refused following fee payment, if the applicant withdraws, or if the SPA later revokes the authorisation for cause, the R$30 million is not returned. Second, the fee covers a five-year authorisation term for a single brand. Operators wishing to run multiple brands must either structure them under a single entity with the SPA’s agreement or obtain separate authorisations, each attracting the full fee. Third, the fee must be paid from the Brazilian entity’s own bank account, not directly by the parent group, which has created treasury and intra-group lending complications for several early movers.

The non-refundable nature of the R$30 million fee means that pre-submission due diligence, including confirmation that the applicant entity will satisfy SPA fit-and-proper review, is more consequential in Brazil than in virtually any other major jurisdiction currently open to international operators.

In practice, operators should conduct a thorough internal fit-and-proper review, including assessment of beneficial owners, ultimate holding structures, and any prior regulatory actions globally, before paying the fee. The SPA’s beneficial ownership disclosure requirements are comprehensive, and applications have been stalled or refused at a late stage where group-level ownership information has not been proactively disclosed.

Technical Certification Requirements

Brazilian technical certification requirements are materially different from many European frameworks in one critical respect: certification is a prerequisite to licensing, not a parallel or post-licensing obligation. An applicant cannot receive an authorisation from the SPA until its platform, including random number generators (RNGs), gaming software, and data-transmission systems, holds a valid conformity certificate issued by a laboratory that has been approved by the SPA for this purpose.

Portaria 1.330/2024 specifies the technical standards that platforms must meet, covering system integrity, fairness, player fund segregation at the technical level, and real-time reporting capability to the SPA’s central monitoring system. The data-transmission obligation is particularly important: licensed operators must maintain a live connection to the SPA’s sistema de fiscalização, allowing the regulator to access wagering volumes, GGR data, and player account information in real time. Failure to maintain this connection is treated as a material compliance breach.

Approved testing laboratories include internationally recognised bodies such as BMM Testlabs, Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), and eCOGRA, provided they have received SPA approval for the Brazilian market. Operators should confirm current SPA laboratory approval status directly, as the approved-laboratory list is subject to update. Lead times for full platform certification in the Brazilian context have ranged from three to six months for operators with mature, previously certified platforms, and longer for bespoke or less-tested systems.

GGR Taxation and Financial Compliance Obligations

The federal tax framework for licensed operators under the Bets Act is built around a gross gaming revenue (GGR) tax rate of 18%, levied on net revenue defined as total stakes received less winnings paid to players. In addition, a further 2% levy is directed to designated social funds, including public security, sports development, and education programmes, giving licensed operators an effective federal tax pull on GGR of approximately 18% with the additional 2% channelled separately.

Players are also subject to a withholding tax on winnings. Under the relevant provisions of the Bets Act, prizes above a defined threshold are subject to income tax at the applicable rate, and the licensed operator is responsible for withholding and remitting that tax. This creates an operational obligation at the payments layer that must be built into the platform before go-live, not retrofitted after licensing. State-level taxes may also apply depending on the operator’s corporate structure, and operators should obtain jurisdiction-specific tax counsel rather than relying solely on the federal framework described here.

Payments infrastructure presents another practical challenge. Licensed operators must accept deposits and pay winnings through Brazilian payment rails. The PIX instant payment system, operated by the Banco Central do Brasil, has become the dominant method, and operators are required to support it. Credit card deposits for gambling have been restricted under regulations introduced by the Conselho Monetário Nacional (CMN) in parallel with the Bets Act rollout, and operators whose platforms were built with credit card deposit flows as the primary payment method have had to undertake significant product re-engineering.

Responsible Gambling and Consumer Protection Requirements

The Bets Act and implementing regulations impose a substantive responsible gambling programme as a licence condition, not merely a best-practice expectation. Key obligations include mandatory self-exclusion integration with the national AUTOEXCLUSÃO register, spending limit tools that must be accessible to players without friction, and a prohibition on extending credit to players. Advertising rules are detailed and include restrictions on advertising content that targets vulnerable persons and specific watershed-style restrictions on broadcast contexts. Operators are required to display responsible gambling information prominently across all player-facing interfaces.

The SPA has signalled through early enforcement activity that responsible gambling programme deficiencies will be treated as material non-compliance. Operators should ensure their responsible gambling obligations are mapped against both the Bets Act provisions and any SPA normative instructions issued after Portaria 1.330/2024, as the normative instruction stack on this topic has continued to develop since the initial licensing cohort began operations.

AML, KYC, and Beneficial Ownership Disclosure

Anti-money laundering obligations for licensed Brazilian betting operators derive from both the Bets Act framework and Brazil’s primary AML statute, Law No. 9,613 of 3 March 1998, as amended, which designates gambling companies as reporting entities subject to COAF (Conselho de Controle de Atividades Financeiras) reporting obligations. In practice, this means operators must implement a full KYC programme covering customer identification, identity verification, enhanced due diligence for politically exposed persons, and suspicious transaction reporting to COAF.

The SPA’s beneficial ownership disclosure requirements at the licensing stage are extensive. All natural persons who, directly or indirectly, hold 25% or more of the Brazilian entity or who exercise effective control must be individually disclosed and must pass fit-and-proper assessment. This standard mirrors the approach taken by several European regulators but has caught some applicants off guard where complex offshore holding structures make beneficial ownership tracing non-trivial. Operators should prepare a complete group ownership chart, traceable to ultimate natural person beneficiaries, as part of pre-application preparation rather than producing it reactively in response to SPA queries.

Political Risk: The Legislative Challenge to the Framework

Compliance teams advising operators with Brazilian exposure cannot responsibly ignore the current legislative environment. In 2026, Bill No. 1,808 was introduced in the Chamber of Deputies by 68 PT-aligned lawmakers, including members of President Lula’s own party. The bill, if enacted, would repeal both Law No. 13,756 and Law No. 14,790, effectively dismantling the entire federal betting and online gaming framework. The bill’s explanatory memorandum characterises the sector as a driver of household debt and social harm.

The bill reflects President Lula’s public positioning ahead of elections, despite the federal government having collected nearly BRL 10 billion in taxes from the sector in 2025 under the very framework the bill seeks to abolish. As of the date of publication, the bill awaits appointment of a rapporteur and a committee referral decision in the Chamber; it has not passed any legislative stage. However, operators should monitor the bill’s progress closely and maintain contingency planning for scenarios involving significant regulatory change. Qualified Brazilian legal counsel should be engaged to track legislative developments on a current basis.

The Brazilian federal government collected approximately BRL 10 billion in betting-related tax revenue in 2025, yet political pressure aligned with evangelical and conservative electoral constituencies has generated credible legislative proposals to repeal the framework that produced that revenue.

Operational Pitfalls Encountered by Early Movers

The first cohort of operators to navigate the Brazilian licensing process under the Bets Act framework encountered several recurring operational issues that later applicants can address proactively. The most common are summarised below.

Treasury mechanics for the R$30 million fee payment created delays for groups whose Brazilian entity lacked sufficient capitalisation at the point of application. Intra-group loans to fund the fee payment require proper documentation and must comply with Banco Central do Brasil rules on cross-border capital flows and interest rates on intercompany lending. Groups that had not pre-arranged this structure found themselves in a holding pattern after completing other application requirements.

PIX integration timelines were underestimated by several operators. Obtaining a PIX participation arrangement via a Brazilian banking partner involves regulatory and technical onboarding steps that take longer than anticipated when approached without prior Brazilian banking relationships. Operators who engaged Brazilian banking partners early in the process avoided launch delays that affected others.

Data-localisation and monitoring connectivity obligations require that certain player data and transaction records be hosted on servers located in Brazil or accessible to the SPA in real time. Operators whose data architecture assumed all systems would remain offshore required significant infrastructure work before certification could be completed.

Responsible gambling tool requirements, particularly the mandatory integration with the national self-exclusion register, required API development that several operators had not scoped into their pre-launch technical plans.

In practice, operators considering Brazilian licensing in 2026 should build a minimum 12-month runway from corporate formation to anticipated go-live, assuming no material complications in the fit-and-proper or technical certification process. This timeline reflects the experience of the first cohort; operators with more complex group structures or less-tested platforms should budget more time.

Key Resources

Law No. 14,790 of 29 December 2023 (Lei das Bets): the primary statute governing fixed-odds betting and online gaming in Brazil. Available at the Presidência da República official portal: planalto.gov.br.

Law No. 13,756 of 12 December 2018: the original fixed-odds betting authorisation statute, partially amended and supplemented by Law No. 14,790. Available at planalto.gov.br.

MF Ordinance No. 1,330 of 23 August 2024 (Portaria MF 1.330/2024): the principal implementing regulation covering application procedure, technical requirements, and financial obligations. Available at gov.br/fazenda.

SPA Normative Instructions: a series of instructions issued by the Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas supplementing Portaria 1.330/2024 on specific topics including responsible gambling, data reporting, and payment processing. Current versions available at gov.br/fazenda.

Law No. 9,613 of 3 March 1998 (AML statute, as amended): governs reporting entity obligations and COAF reporting requirements applicable to licensed gambling operators. Available at planalto.gov.br.