Fixed odds betting advertising in Brazil now carries standardized warning lines. SPA/MF Ordinance No. 1,964 of July 3, 2026, issued by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting of the Ministry of Finance, known as SPA/MF, the federal agency that regulates the sector, amended SPA/MF Ordinance No. 1,231 of July 31, 2024, the rule that sets responsible gaming and marketing guidelines and governs the rights and duties of bettors and operators. The new warnings have been effective since July 17, 2026.
What changed: from open wording to fixed lines
Operators used to have room to draft their own alert about the risks of dependency and gambling disorder. That wording is now defined by the Ministry of Finance itself. Every advertising, publicity and marketing action must display one of these warnings, in Portuguese:
- Ministerio da Fazenda adverte: Apostar pode causar dependencia, meaning the Ministry of Finance warns that betting can cause addiction.
- Ministerio da Fazenda adverte: Apostar faz voce perder dinheiro, meaning the Ministry of Finance warns that betting makes you lose money.
- Ministerio da Fazenda adverte: Aposta nao e investimento, meaning the Ministry of Finance warns that betting is not an investment.
The warning must be displayed horizontally, clearly and legibly, and take up at least 10% of the ad. This is not a discreet footer: it is reserved space inside the creative.
The ordinance did not come alone
A few days later, Interministerial Ordinance MF/SECOM/MJSP No. 73 of July 10, 2026 addressed consumer protection in the advertising, communication, marketing and offering of fixed odds betting, and set out cooperation procedures between the Ministry of Finance and the consumer protection and digital rights authorities. The package widened the duties of the entire distribution chain: whoever runs the ad must first verify that the advertised operator is licensed, and misleading content, expert endorsement of specific bets and any marketing aimed at minors are prohibited. According to the Ministry of Finance, 85 companies were licensed to operate in the regulated market when the new rules were announced.
On August 27, 2026, CONAR, the private advertising self regulation body, approved an update to Annex X of its code, adding criteria for displaying those same warnings clearly and prominently. Regulator and self regulation now point in the same direction.
What this means in practice
In the reading of Oliveira & Jacobovitz, standardization moved the risk from content to form, and that changes how campaigns are approved inside the company.
- The creative is now built around the warning. Reserving 10% of the piece in short formats such as stories, programmatic banners and in game insertions is not a last minute art adjustment. It is a briefing parameter, or the piece gets remade.
- Compliance became measurable by third parties. With fixed wording and a defined percentage, anyone, including a competitor or a consumer protection authority, can prove a breach from a single screenshot. The cost of getting it wrong is now visible.
- Liability spreads along the chain. Agencies, media outlets, platforms, affiliates and influencers each have their own duty of prior verification. Contracts signed before July 2026 most likely lack advertising compliance clauses, audit rights and immediate takedown obligations, and need to be revisited.
- Keeping evidence is part of the routine. We recommend keeping a record of published pieces, with date, channel and proof of the warning applied. That archive is what supports a defense in an administrative sanction proceeding.
For operators, agencies and affiliates, this is the moment to audit what is on air and adjust the contracts along the chain. Each case requires individual analysis, and this text does not replace specific legal advice.
