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 (enacted 30 December 2023), which covers 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, granting and supervising 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 costs R$30 million, runs for five years and may 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.
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.
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.
How the tax stacks up
Two separate charges apply at different points. Operators pay tax on gross gaming revenue, defined as turnover after prizes paid and income tax withheld on those prizes, and that rate follows a legislated upward path through the late 2020s under Complementary Law 224/2025, with part of the increase ring-fenced for social security. Separately, players are taxed on net winnings through personal income tax above a monthly exemption. The distinction matters for diligence: the headline operator rate alone understates total fiscal drag, because player-side taxation and the rising GGR schedule both bear on effective returns.
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.
Rules still being written
Enforcement leans on infrastructure as much as penalties: unlicensed sites are subject to payment-processing and access blocking, cutting them off from banking and connectivity rather than being pursued individually. The regime also remains partly under construction. Having gone live at the start of 2025, the SPA has continued issuing ordinances and, in July 2026, opened a public consultation on a draft ordinance governing how commercial fixed-odds authorisations are granted. Several operational details therefore rest on secondary regulation still being drafted and amended, so the rulebook should be read as evolving rather than settled.
Tax
Gross gaming revenue (turnover minus prizes paid, minus income tax withheld on prizes)
13% of GGR (2026), rising to 14% (2027) and 15% (2028 onwards)
Operators pay a fixed-odds betting (Bets) tax on GGR (turnover minus prizes paid and income tax withheld on prizes) that rises under Complementary Law No. 224/2025: 13% in 2026 (a 12% earmark for public policies across sport, tourism, social security and public safety, plus a new 1% social-security contribution), 14% in 2027 (12%+2%) and 15% from 2028 onward (12%+3%). The base 12% framework was set by Law 14.790/2023; the 1% social-security add-on took effect after the 90-day constitutional waiting period (~late March 2026). Players separately pay 15% income tax (IRPF) on net winnings above the monthly IRPF first-bracket exemption (R$2,428.80 as of 2025). These are 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.
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 2028-01-15Licence types
Fees
Change-watch
Law 14.790/2023 enacted (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.
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.
Advertising ordinance (Portaria SPA/MF no 1.964, published 10 July 2026) took effect: every fixed-odds betting advert must carry a rotating harm warning occupying at least 10% of its area, misleading and specialist-endorsement ads are barred, and advertising aimed at under-18s is deemed abusive
Beneficiaries of federal debt-relief programmes (Novo Desenrola Brasil, Desenrola Adimplentes, Fies Empreendedor) barred from fixed-odds betting, with operators required to block their registration (Portaria SPA/MF no 2.066 and Instrucao Normativa MF no 21, 13 July 2026)
Sources (7)
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.