SPA reveals 89 operators allowed to do business in Brazil’s betting transition period

Operators had until 30 September to file federal betting licence applications to continue offering gambling in Brazil’s transition period. Now the window is shut, the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) has revealed the brands that will stay in the market until legal betting launches.

The Brazilian regulated gaming market is scheduled to launch from 1 January 2025, with a transition period running from 1 October. During that period, 89 operators will be active in the market.

At the time of the 30 September deadline, there were 181 applications registered on Sigap, Brazil’s betting management system. Operators were required to inform the SPA which brands would be active during the transition period and which domains they would utilise.

At the time the deadline passed, there were 181 applications registered on Sigap, Brazil’s betting management system.

However, only operators already active in the market means that number is whittled down to 89 companies able to operate during the transition period. The BRL30m (£4.2m/€5m/$5.5m) licence fee allows three skins for each application, and therefore these 89 operators will run 193 brands that can be active until 31 December.

A host of big international names feature on the list, including Kaizen Gaming-owned Betano, Bet365 and Betsson.

Among the local brands are EstrelaBet, Aposta Ganha and Rei do Pitaco, as well as NSX Group’s Betnacional, Mr Jack Bet and Pagbet. Flutter Entertainment announced in September it would acquire a 56% stake in NSX for $350m.

What now for brands not on the list in Brazil?
Companies not included on the list now face being blocked, but only after a 10-day window in order for players to withdraw funds. From 11 October onwards, the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) will be tasked with taking down sites now considered illegal.

The crackdown was due to start after the market launched, but Nominative Ordinance No 1,475 brought it forward to 1 October.

The October deadline split opinion in the Brazilian industry, but SPA leader Regis Dudena believes it’ll ensure a safer environment for bettors.

“This measure provides greater security for society and for companies that want to operate properly in Brazil,” Dudena explained. “With this, we protect the mental and financial health of players.”

Rio ruling to hinder Brazil transition period?
However, a ruling from the Supreme Federal Court (STF) on Tuesday (1 October) has potentially thrown a spanner in the works in regards to the site blocking.

The STF granted the Rio de Janeiro State Lottery (Loterj) a preliminary injunction, ensuring Loterj-licensed brands can operate outside of the ban on those that haven’t applied for a federal licence.

Federal betting regulations No 1,225, No 1,231 and No 1,475 were labelled “incompatible” with Loterj’s Accreditation Notice 001/2023, which allows accredited legal entities to operate public lottery services for up to five years. The effects of the three ordinances were consequently suspended.

According to Games Magazine Brazil, this now means the Ministry of Finance could have to wait on an appeal from the Attorney General’s Office against the STF’s ruling to see if it can proceed with the site blocking.

SPA publishes state licensee lists
Alongside the list of federal applicants, the SPA also published a register of companies that have gained authorisation at state level.

The SPA previously requested state regulators to notify the federal regulator with information of the brands and domains of new state licensees.

These companies will only be allowed to operate fixed-odds betting within state territories.

A total of six state-authorised companies were included on the list, five of which were within the state of Paraná.

Embralote was among the six businesses, licensed to operate within Maranhão, while the Paraná-licensed businesses included Betplay and Pixbet, the latter of which also filed a federal licence application for three of its brands.

The SPA’s role during the transition period
It now falls upon the SPA to process the huge number of applications ahead of the 1 January 2025 go-live date for the online market.

At the end of the transition period, the SPA will publish another list detailing which companies and sites will be authorised in the legal nationwide market, with only companies fully compliant with the regulations set out in the four-stage rollout able to operate.

The SPA will first deal with the 113 applications received prior to the 20 August deadline for the initial 90-day window of preference, with licence requests made before then guaranteed to be processed by the end of the transition period.

The go-live date will see operators that have applied for a licence but hadn’t yet started their operations join the market, should their requests be accepted.

The SPA noted that there is currently no other deadline for applications, which can be made at any time. The SPA has up to 150 days to tend to each request from the day it’s submitted to Sigap.