Gambling in Brazil: new rules on data
The Ministry of Finance has made a new order related to the transfer of data on gambling in Brazil.
Brazil.- With just over a month to go until the launch of the regulatory framework for online gambling in Brazil, the Ministry of Finance has published a new ordinance on the transfer of gambling data. Ordinance No. 1,857 from the new gambling regulator, the SPA, regulates the transfer of data and customer funds between legal entities in the same economic group and prohibits such transfers in some cases.
Article 3 states that player data and funds can only be transferred to financial institutions with an authorisation issued by the SPA. Prospective operators have until December 13 to apply for this authorisation if they wish to operate on the market from the January 1 launch date. The deadline can be extended in the event that the SPA requires additional information.
Operators who do not request SPA authorisation under the new ordinance, or who are rejected, will not be able to operate. Meanwhile, article 7 states that players have the right to full withdrawal via transferring funds to a payments account registered with a financial institution authorised by Brazil’s Central Bank.
Other late updates have seen the Supreme Court order the implementation of rules 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.
Meanwhile, the SPA has begun to advise the operators that have qualified for Brazilian online gambling licences. Operators will have 30 days to take the final steps to gain their licence, including making payment of the R$30 million (€5m) fee and completion of platform certification checks. The complete list of approved gambling operators is to be published by the end of December in time for the market’s launch.
The SPA had granted permission for grey market operators to continue operating as long as they have applied for a licence. Operators that did not apply for a licence by October 1 are no longer allowed to offer gambling in Brazil. The regulator has asked the national telecoms agency Anatel to order blocks on 1,800 domains that it says were offering online gambling without having applied for a federal licence. It’s the third such order issued since September. Together, the three orders list 5,200 gambling sites.
