Brazil
Brazil legalised fixed-odds betting ('apostas de quota fixa') with Law 13.756/2018 and built the operational framework with Law 14.790/2023 (signed 29 December 2023, published 30 December 2023), which covered both online sports betting and online gaming ('jogos online' / online casino). The Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas (SPA) of the Ministério da Fazenda is the federal regulator and supervises authorisations through the SIGAP management system. Authorised operators went live on 1 January 2025 after a licensing round in late 2024; unlicensed sites are subject to payment and access blocking. Each federal authorisation cost R$30 million, ran for five years and could cover up to three commercial brands (skins). Some states (e.g. Rio de Janeiro's Loterj) also run their own lottery-based fixed-odds regimes, creating a parallel state layer. Provisional Measure (Medida Provisória) no 1.394, published and in force on 25 September 2026, prohibits fixed-odds betting nationwide, bars new authorisations and ended all federal and state authorisations on 25 October 2026, 30 days after publication, without refund of the federal grant fee; as a provisional measure it lapses unless Congress converts it into law (first deadline 23 November 2026, extendable once by 60 days).
One regime, two statutes
Brazil's federal betting regime rests on two statutes read together. Law 13.756/2018 created the legal category of fixed-odds betting but left it largely dormant; Law 14.790/2023 supplied the operating rules and, unusually, extended them to online gaming ('jogos online') as well as sports betting, so a single federal framework governs both. This differs from jurisdictions such as France that license online casino and betting separately or restrict one entirely. The SPA administers the regime through SIGAP, its digital authorisation and monitoring system, so applications, licensing status and ongoing supervision run through one federal channel. Provisional Measure 1.394 of 25 September 2026 revoked the fixed-odds chapter of Law 13.756/2018 and most of Law 14.790/2023; both still apply to events during the life of the authorisations.
Reading the entry bar
The authorisation model functions as a deliberate filter. A single federal grant carries a large fixed cost that does not scale with turnover, so the economics favour operators able to spread it across the permitted brand slots; lightly-capitalised entrants have less room. The requirement to incorporate in Brazil and hold minimum Brazilian ownership ties each licensee to a domestic corporate entity that authorities can reach for tax, supervision and enforcement. Read together, these conditions tend to concentrate the market around well-capitalised, locally-established groups rather than a long tail of small sites. Provisional Measure 1.394 of 25 September 2026 bars new authorisations and voids pending applications, so this entry bar describes the regime as it operated from January 2025 until the measure took effect.
How the tax stacks up
Two separate charges applied at different points. Operators paid tax on gross gaming revenue, defined as turnover after prizes paid and income tax withheld on those prizes, at a rate legislated to rise through the late 2020s: Complementary Law 224/2025 added a slice on top of the 12% earmark from 1 April 2026, first for social security and then, under Provisional Measure 1.348/2026 (converted by Law 15.480/2026), for the Federal Police fund (Funapol). Separately, players were taxed on net winnings through personal income tax above an annual exemption. The distinction mattered for diligence: the headline operator rate alone understated total fiscal drag, because player-side taxation and the rising GGR schedule both bore on effective returns. Provisional Measure 1.394 of 25 September 2026 revoked both charges, Chapter V of Law 13.756/2018 (which held the operator schedule in art. 30) and art. 31 of Law 14.790/2023 (the player tax); the revoked rules still apply to events during the life of the authorisations.
Federal and state layers
A structural tension runs beneath the federal regime. Alongside the SPA's national authorisations, some states operate their own lottery-based fixed-odds regimes through state lottery bodies, of which Rio de Janeiro's Loterj is the most prominent, grounded in the constitutional position that states may run lotteries. This creates a parallel state licensing track whose permitted reach, particularly whether a state licence extends beyond that state's borders, has been contested. For a diligence reader the practical questions are which authorisation a given operator actually holds and how secure its claimed territorial scope is. Provisional Measure 1.394 of 25 September 2026 applies to the states as well: state and Federal District fixed-odds concessions and authorisations ended on 25 October 2026, on the same 30-day timetable as the federal ones (art. 2 §1).
From licensing to prohibition
Enforcement leans on infrastructure as much as on penalties. Unlicensed operators face payment and access blocking: under art. 21-A of Law 14.790/2023, once the regulator has established unauthorised operation, banks and payment institutions must block the operator's accounts and stop new transactions, and Portaria SPA/MF no 2.750 (published 14 September 2026) sets out how. In July 2026 the SPA opened a consultation on how commercial fixed-odds authorisations are granted, but Provisional Measure 1.394 of 25 September 2026 bars new authorisations, voids pending applications and replaces the licensing regime with a nationwide prohibition, enforced through a payments ban, an advertising ban, duties on internet platforms and app stores, and site blocking ordered by the Finance and Justice ministries and carried out through Anatel and CGI.br. The courts have so far held that line: on 9 October 2026 the president of the TRF3 suspended a lower-court injunction that had let one operator keep running until 25 October, reasoning that a single-operator carve-out would undermine a national policy while the constitutional challenges are pending, and from 19 October federal courts began ordering operators that missed the 7 October reporting deadline to hand over players' final balances under daily fines. Because a provisional measure lapses unless Congress converts it into law, with a first deadline of 23 November 2026, the rulebook here is in flux rather than settled.
Tax
Gross gaming revenue (turnover minus prizes paid, minus income tax withheld on prizes)
Operator levy revoked from 25 Sep 2026 (MP 1.394); still owed for the authorised period
Operators paid a fixed-odds betting (Bets) tax on GGR (turnover minus prizes paid and income tax withheld on prizes) under art. 30 of Law 13.756/2018: a 12% earmark for public policies, set by Law 14.790/2023, plus an add-on that Complementary Law No. 224/2025 created for social security with effect from 1 April 2026 and that Provisional Measure 1.348/2026, converted by Law 15.480/2026, redirected to the Federal Police fund (Funapol). The combined rate was set at 13% in 2026 (12%+1%), 14% in 2027 (12%+2%) and 15% from 2028 (12%+3%). Players separately paid 15% income tax (IRPF) on net annual winnings above the first band of the annual IRPF table (Law 14.790/2023, art. 31). These were distinct from the R$30m federal authorisation fee (outorga, 5-year licence up to 3 brands), the R$30m minimum share capital, and corporate taxes. Provisional Measure 1.394 (25 September 2026) revoked Chapter V of Law 13.756/2018 (including this schedule in art. 30 and the supervision fee in art. 32) and art. 31 of Law 14.790/2023 (the 15% player winnings tax); under its art. 29 the revoked rules still apply to events during the life of the authorisations.
Key facts
Brazil across the portal
Open forecasts
Will Brazil's betting-operator tax step up to 14% of GGR on 1 January 2027, as scheduled?90%resolves by 2027-01-31Will Brazil's betting-advertising bill (PL 2.985/2023) become law by 31 December 2027?30%resolves by 2028-01-15RTP rules
Not applicable — Provisional Measure 1.394 of 25 September 2026 prohibits fixed-odds betting on online games ('jogos on-line') in Brazil (art. 1 §1) and ends every federal and state authorisation 30 days after publication; it lapses unless Congress converts it into law. Before the measure, a statutory minimum applied: Portaria SPA/MF nº 1.207 de 29 de julho de 2024, Anexo item 28, provides that 'cada jogo deve, teoricamente, pagar ao apostador um RTP mínimo de oitenta e cinco por cento (85%) durante a sua vida útil esperada' — each online game must theoretically return a minimum 85% RTP over its expected life. Accumulated, progressive, incremental and incentive prizes are excluded unless internal to the game, and a game may not adjust its RTP based on prior payouts.
Not applicable while Provisional Measure 1.394 (25 September 2026) bans fixed-odds online games. Before the measure, the same Anexo required the RTP to be shown to the bettor before play: item 29 requires the game artwork to contain each game's RTP 'sem a necessidade de o apostador iniciar a sessão do jogo.'
Licence types
Fees
Change-watch
All federal, state and Federal District fixed-odds authorisations ended on 25 October 2026, thirty days after MP 1.394 was published (art. 4 and art. 2 §1), without refund of the R$30 million grant fee; the SPA published no separate notice, keeps its supervisory powers over the authorised period (art. 5), and former operators have until 15 December 2026 to settle its obligations
On an AGU application the 21st Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro ordered Select Operations (MMA, Betvip, Papigames) to report players' final balances and transactional-account funds under a daily fine of R$50,000 capped at R$1 million and to keep the refund money segregated, the first ruling in the AGU's actions against eight operators that missed the 7 October Sigap reporting deadline (7MBR, Enseada, Foggo, Laguna, Pixbet, Responsa Gaming, Select Operations and Zeroumbet)
The bank refund window opened on 9 October (to 14 October) with R$1.24 billion owed to 26.3 million bettors by the SPA's bulletin; the president of the TRF3 suspended a São Paulo federal court injunction that had let Stake Brazil keep operating until 25 October, citing the pending ADIs 8024, 8027 and 8028; and the Justice Ministry's Ciberlab had referred 20,318 illegal betting sites and channels for blocking since 25 September
Congress closed the amendment window on MP 1.394 with 99 amendments filed (five withdrawn), many seeking to narrow the ban to online casino games; no mixed committee or rapporteur yet, the urgency regime starts on 9 November and the measure lapses on 23 November 2026 unless converted or extended
Justice Ministry reported the first day offline: of the 188 sites authorised until 5 October only one was still up (blocking requested), R$1.325bn awaited refund to about 26.5 million bettors, 86.2 million accounts held between R$0.01 and R$0.99 (R$15.5m in total), and 13,241 illegal sites had been sent for blocking since 25 September
Portaria SPA/MF no 3.005 (2 October 2026) set the wind-down procedure after the ban: voluntary withdrawals closed at 23:59 on 5 October, sites and apps had to go offline from 6 October, operators reported final player balances as at that cut-off to the SPA through Sigap by 7 October and to the banks for refunds between 9 and 14 October (Caixa Econômica Federal takes over refunds a bank could not pay once the bank window closes on 14 October), and former operators have until 15 December 2026 to settle the financial and regulatory obligations of their authorised period, keeping a legal representative and current contact details, with changes notified within 48 hours
Three constitutional challenges (ADIs 8024, 8027 and 8028) against MP 1.394 were filed at the Supreme Federal Court by the operator associations Anseja and ANJL and the mayors' association ANPV, seeking its suspension and a transition of at least 180 days; all were assigned to Justice Luiz Fux and no decision had been published by 26 October
Decreto no 13.128 set up the inter-institutional committee that MP 1.394 created to supervise illegal betting and its advertising, coordinated by the Casa Civil with the Finance, Justice and Sports ministries, Secom, AGU, the Central Bank, COAF, the Federal Police, Anatel and ANPD, meeting and reporting every six months
Nationwide ban on fixed-odds betting (Medida Provisória no 1.394, signed and published in an extra edition of the DOU on 25 September 2026 and in force that day) prohibits operating, offering and advertising sports betting and online games in Brazil, including from abroad: new deposits are barred at once, licensed sites and apps must go offline 10 days after publication, all federal and state authorisations end 30 days after publication without refund of the federal R$30 million grant fee, and betting payments, advertising and sponsorship are banned; the measure lapses unless Congress converts it into law (first deadline 23 November 2026)
Payment-blocking ordinance (Portaria SPA/MF no 2.750, signed 10 September, published and in force 14 September 2026) replaced Portaria SPA/MF no 566/2025: on an SPA blocking notice, financial and payment institutions and payment-arrangement institutors must block an unauthorised operator's accounts and stop new transactions to it within 24 hours, close suspicious-pattern analyses within 45 days and report suspected irregular activity to the SPA, blocked funds may be forfeited to the Union, and the SPA must publish a downloadable, API-accessible list of authorised operators with CNPJ, brands and domains
SPA opened a 45-day public consultation (27 July to 9 September 2026, via Brasil Participativo) on a draft ordinance setting the rules and conditions for authorising commercial fixed-odds betting operations.
Brazil: Portaria SPA/MF no 1.964 (in force 17 July 2026) requires one of three rotating Ministry of Finance warnings on at least 10% of each fixed-odds betting advert, and the companion Interministerial Ordinance MF/SECOM/MJSP no 73 of 10 July 2026 bars misleading adverts, comments by specialists encouraging bets on a given game or event and the promotion of unauthorised platforms, extending liability to everyone involved in the advertising
Beneficiaries of the Desenrola Adimplentes and Fies Empreendedor relief programmes (Provisional Measure 1.373 of 29 June 2026) barred from fixed-odds betting, with operators required to block their registration (Portaria SPA/MF no 2.066 and Instrução Normativa MF no 21, 13 July 2026); Novo Desenrola Brasil beneficiaries had been barred from 5 May 2026 (Portaria SPA/MF no 1.237 and IN SPA/MF no 3) and Fies debt-renegotiation beneficiaries from 26 June 2026 (Portaria SPA/MF no 1.638 and IN SPA/MF no 8)
Law 14.790/2023 signed (29 Dec 2023; published 30 Dec 2023), setting the 'Bets' framework, 12% GGR tax and R$30m fee
SPA issued implementing ordinances (portarias) and granted the first federal authorisations for a 1 Jan 2025 start
Regulated market live; SPA and courts pursuing blocking of unlicensed operators; ongoing debate over advertising and a possible higher tax
Complementary Law 224/2025 (sanctioned 26 Dec 2025) raised the operator GGR tax to 13% (2026), 14% (2027) and 15% (from 2028), adding a social-security contribution on top of the original 12% earmark.
Sources (23)
Not legal or tax advice. This is a teaching summary; confirm every figure against the primary regulator (Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas (Ministério da Fazenda)) before relying on it.