Law No. 14.790 of December 29, 2023, known in Brazil as the betting law, turned the commercial exploitation of fixed-odds betting into a formally regulated activity: a company may only operate if it obtains prior authorization from the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting of the Ministry of Finance (SPA/MF), pays the licensing grant and demonstrates, on a continuing basis, corporate, financial, technological and integrity requirements. Since January 1, 2025, operating without that authorization stopped being a grey area and became an infraction subject to sanction. For companies already in the market, the challenge is no longer how to get in, it is how to stay compliant under a framework that is still being written, ordinance by ordinance.
What the law actually regulated
Law No. 14.790/2023 disciplined two fronts that, in practice, are the heart of the Brazilian market. The first is fixed-odds betting on real events, typically sporting events, in which the bettor knows in advance the multiplier applied to the amount staked. The second is online gaming, a category that covers electronic games of random outcome offered through a virtual channel, which in industry vocabulary means online casino. That inclusion was decisive: without it, a large share of operator revenue would have remained outside the regulatory perimeter.
The law also set the institutional design. The power to authorize, supervise and sanction was assigned to the SPA/MF, created within the Ministry of Finance, which since 2024 has been issuing ordinances and normative instructions to make the statute operational. For an operator, this produces a reality unlike that of other sectors: the applicable rule is rarely found in the statute alone, it is spread across secondary acts that change frequently.
How SPA/MF authorization works
The rules and conditions for obtaining authorization were consolidated in SPA/MF Ordinance No. 827 of May 21, 2024. The structural points are these:
- Licensing grant of up to R$ 30 million (Brazilian reais), paid for the authorization to operate commercially.
- Five-year term of validity for the authorization.
- Up to three commercial brands per authorization act, each operating on a domain ending in .bet.br.
- Minimum paid-in capital stock of R$ 30 million, a minimum financial reserve of R$ 5 million and minimum net equity of R$ 30 million.
- A legal entity incorporated under Brazilian law, with head office and management in Brazil, in the form of a limited liability company or a corporation.
- Brazilian ownership of at least 20% of the capital stock where the applicant is a subsidiary of a foreign company.
- Application filed through SIGAP, with a review period of up to 150 days from submission.
The ordinance also requires evidence of technical qualification, economic capacity and the good standing of controlling shareholders and officers, along with formal policies on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF), responsible gaming, sports integrity monitoring and IT continuity. These are not documents to be assembled once and filed away: they are programs that need an owner, a testing routine and evidence that they work.
Know your bettor: KYC and payment methods
The Brazilian regime is nominative. The bettor must be identified and the account must belong to that person, which pushes operators toward robust KYC, with identity verification, age controls and a strict ban on bets by anyone under 18. Payment methods follow the same logic: funds must move through institutions authorized to operate in the country, and the holder of the betting account must match the holder of the payment account. It is precisely at this interface between onboarding, payments and monitoring that compliance audits find the most frequent gaps.
The map of ordinances every operator needs to know
Beyond Ordinance No. 827/2024, the regulatory core includes:
- SPA/MF Ordinance No. 1.207 of July 29, 2024, on technical requirements for the certification of online games and live game studios.
- SPA/MF Ordinance No. 1.231 of July 31, 2024, which regulates responsible gaming, communication, advertising and marketing, and the rights and duties of bettors and operators.
- SPA/MF Ordinance No. 1.233 of July 31, 2024, which establishes the sanctioning regime for fixed-odds betting.
- SPA/MF Normative Instruction No. 3 of January 10, 2025, on operators authorized on a provisional basis.
- SPA/MF Ordinance No. 41 of January 10, 2025, on the distribution of the social earmarkings levied on revenue.
- SPA/MF Normative Instruction No. 9 of February 5, 2025, which governs collection of the supervision fee.
It is worth recording that advertising rules were brought forward: SPA/MF Ordinance No. 1.902 of December 5, 2024 gave immediate effect to restrictions scheduled to start on January 1, 2025, above all those protecting children and teenagers. It was a clear signal that the SPA/MF would not wait for the calendar to act on what it considers abusive.
Sanctions: the cost of getting it wrong
The sanctioning regime under Law No. 14.790/2023 ranges from a warning to fines, suspension of activities and revocation of the authorization, with the possibility of a partial or total ban on the activity. The fine applicable to a legal entity may reach a significant percentage of annual turnover, subject to the statutory cap per infraction, which moves the subject out of the operational risk box and into the existential risk box. Ordinance No. 1.233/2024 details the procedure and the aggravating circumstances, among them an infraction involving a bet placed by someone under 18, in which case the penalty is increased.
In a market authorized for a fixed term, a sanction does not weigh only for its amount: it contaminates renewal, banking relationships and the ability to close sponsorship deals.
Calendar: from 2025 to 2026
The regulated market took effect on January 1, 2025, the milestone from which legitimate operation came to depend on authorization and on a .bet.br domain. 2025 was a year of settling in: game certification, onboarding adjustments, campaign remediation and organizing payment of the supervision fee.
In 2026 the axis shifted toward enforcement and advertising. SPA/MF Ordinance No. 1.964 of July 3, 2026, published in the Official Gazette on July 10, 2026, amended Ordinance No. 1.231/2024 to standardize mandatory warning clauses, among them the phrase Ministério da Fazenda adverte: Apostar pode causar dependência (the Ministry of Finance warns: betting can cause addiction), requiring horizontal, clear and legible presentation occupying at least 10% of the length or size of the advertisement, effective as of July 17, 2026. That same month, Interministerial Ordinance MF/SECOM/MJSP No. 73 of July 10, 2026 came into force, covering advertising, communication, marketing and the offering of fixed-odds betting, with enforcement shared with bodies of the National Consumer Protection System. On the tax side, Complementary Law No. 224 of December 26, 2025 raised the burden on operator revenue in stages and created joint liability for payment institutions and for anyone publishing advertising for an unauthorized operator.
The five most recurring points of attention
- Living compliance, not paperwork. The SPA/MF asks for evidence that AML/CTF, KYC and responsible gaming policies are being executed, not merely that they exist.
- Brand and domain governance. Running a brand outside the authorization act, or outside .bet.br, is direct exposure.
- The marketing chain. Affiliates and influencers are, in practice, the operator's risk, a subject we explore in a dedicated article.
- Periodic obligations. The supervision fee, reporting duties and social earmarkings run on their own calendar and create silent liabilities when neglected.
- Managing regulatory change. With new ordinances every semester, a company without a monitoring routine learns the rule from the enforcement notice.
How our firm can help
Oliveira & Jacobovitz brings regulatory, corporate and administrative law together in its iGaming practice. We advise operators on the corporate structuring required by the SPA/MF, on preparing the authorization application, on reviewing AML/CTF, KYC and responsible gaming policies, on analyzing contracts with suppliers, affiliates and clubs, and on defending administrative sanctioning proceedings. We also build regulatory monitoring routines so that a change in ordinance reaches the legal team before it reaches the auditor. Every matter is analyzed individually, with no guarantee of outcome, focused on reducing exposure and keeping the operation sustainable over time.
