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 ends all federal and state authorisations 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 end within the same 30-day period as the federal ones.

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. 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.

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