Brazil gambling regulator to signal approvals of online operators
SENACON has also ordered a ban on advertising targeting minors.
Brazil.- The new Brazilian gambling regulator, the SPA, has said that it will start advising operators that have been approved to operate on the regulated online gambling market from January 1. The regulator’s president, Regis Dudena, said the SPA and the Ministry of Finance would begin informing approved operators individually starting this week.
Operators will be given 30 days to complete the final requirements, which will include paying the licence fee of R$30m (€5m). The complete list of operators approved for the launch of the regulated online gambling market will be announced by the end of December in time for the January 1 launch.
Some 113 applicants remain in the running for Brazilian online gambling licences following Betway’s decision to bail. The SPA will conduct final inspections to ensure that operators are using certified platforms and have the required capitalisation. Licences will be awarded after the SPA grants final authorisations.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian national consumer secretariat SENACON has published an order banning incentives like bonuses and sign-up offers for online gambling ahead of the launch of the regulated market on January 1. The gambling regulator SPA has already banned bonuses. Order 2,344/2024 appears to only reaffirm the measure.
Signed by Vitor Hugo do Amaral Ferreira, the text bans “any advertising of rewards involving advances, upfront payments, bonuses or advantages under the guise of promotions, marketing or advertising”. It also prohibits targeting of ads at minors.
Operators have ten days to deliver a transparency report to outline the measures they’re taking to comply with the rules. Operators that fail to do so could be fined R$ 50,000 (€8,000) a day.
Other late updates have seen the Supreme Court order changes to the rules for Brazil’s upcoming regulated online gambling market to address recent concerns about customers gambling using welfare funds. The court has ordered that articles be amended to ban the use of social benefits for gambling.
