LATAM

Article written by Ana Maria Mendes & Elisa Marcante: SBC Noticias Brazil
Regis Dudena, the President of the Secretary of Prizes and Betting (SPA), believes that Brazil has achieved its initial regulatory objectives to launch and govern its nascent online gambling regime.

Interviewed by SBC Notícias Brazil, Dudena gave an account of leading the SPA as the governing authority of the Bets regime while under a glaring spotlight from political parties, federal authorities, operators, and media.

Launched on 1 January 2025, the Bets regime was birthed like no other gambling market — placed under immediate scrutiny over its economic and integrity policies, while its core framework remained unsettled in key areas such as advertising, taxation, and consumer protection.

Despite these uncertainties, Dudena and the SPA have pushed ahead, overseeing a market of 80 licensed operators servicing over 400 brands. He contends that the SPA has laid the groundwork for a more balanced and enforceable regime, helping Brazil transition from an unregulated environment into one of legal oversight and accountability.

Channelling Wagers
Among the more pointed assertions made by Dudena was a rebuttal of claims that Brazil’s black market for online gambling is growing. Far from expanding, he suggested, it is being eroded and steadily replaced by a regulated ecosystem that is gaining ground with Brazilian consumers.

“Today, far more people are entertaining themselves in a regulated environment with authorised and legal operators,” Dudena stated –“We’re observing a trend toward channelisation, not illegal market expansion.”

Despite grey market factors still lingering, Dudena urged observers to judge the system by its long-term trajectory, not by isolated incidents. Enforcement, he argued, must be understood as part of a broader structural shift to drive consumers to licensed operators, in which the SPA will be strengthened by new projects.

The reason why scepticism remains, is due to key regulatory settlements still to be determined. Yet SPA’s record to date suggests that the scaffolding of oversight is, at the very least, being built.

Regulating at Speed
Dudena believes that the SPA is regulating at speed, delivering on a relentless timeline. In less than a year, the agency published licensing protocols, approved market ordinances, mandated data reporting requirements, and launched a programme of operator engagement.

“People joked they didn’t expect us to succeed,” he noted. “But we planned, executed, and delivered on schedule.”

The most formidable challenge has been technical: processing the large volume of operator-reported data via SIGAP, the federal betting data system. Licensed operators must report daily on deposits, payouts, and losses. The backlog has delayed SPA’s first official performance report, but Dudena assured that “quarterly updates will begin shortly and follow a predictable publication cycle.”

R$3bn Vote of Confidence

Dudena’s interview with SBC Noticias Brazil was followed by Agência Brasil publishing the first economic report revealing the Bets regime’s early economic footprint. In the first five months of 2025, tax revenue from regulated betting operations reached R$3bn (approximately €520m) — up from R$7m over the same period in 2024.

May alone saw revenue surge from R$4m to over R$800m, a year-on-year increase of roughly 23,000%.

“The recent R$3 billion figure is irrefutable proof of the market’s economic relevance,” said Rafael Marchetti Marcondes, CLO of fantasy operator Rei do Pitaco told SBC Noticias Brazil.
“In a country seeking new fiscal resources, betting has become a key contributor to public policy funding.”

Single National System
The SPA is pushing ahead with plans to bring the country’s state-run lotteries under a single, centralised framework, as part of its wider effort to professionalise and enforce national compliance standards.

The project dubbed SINAPO (Sistema Nacional de Apostas) — aims to establish baseline requirements across federal and state levels, focusing on critical areas such as anti-money laundering protocols and responsible gambling protections.

To date, 16 states have joined the working group, with participating jurisdictions set to benefit from national regulatory infrastructure, including access to the “.bet.br” domain and Brazil’s forthcoming centralised self-exclusion system — both considered vital to SPA’s consumer protection agenda.

Priorities & Pitfalls
Looking ahead, SPA’s regulatory agenda for the second half of 2025 is dense with infrastructure development and policy refinement. Dudena confirmed that the agency will prioritise the launch of Brazil’s centralised self-exclusion system, regarded as a cornerstone of consumer protection and harm reduction.

Other top-line priorities include the finalisation of a national advertising code of conduct, the deployment of real-time transaction monitoring, and the release of the regime’s first and second quarterly market performance reports.

While SPA can claim early progress on several fronts, the regime’s greatest test may lie beyond its technical capabilities. Fiscal policy, controlled by the Ministry of Finance and Congress, threatens to reshape the economic foundation on which the regulated market rests.

The Senate’s Gamble
Attention now turns to Brazil’s National Congress, where a proposal is under consideration to raise the gross gaming revenue (GGR) tax from 12% to 18% on betting income. The measure is seen as an alternative to increasing the IOF financial transactions tax and forms part of broader fiscal reforms pursued by the Ministry of Finance.

Industry pushback by IBJR, has warned that combined tax pressures when including state (PIS/COFINS, ISS) and corporate income tax will push the effective burden beyond 50%, jeopardising the very channelisation SPA has sought to foster.

For now, Brazil’s Bets regime enjoys political momentum, fiscal backing, and regulatory momentum. Whether that remains the case will depend not only on how the SPA evolves its framework—but on whether policymakers resist the temptation to overplay their fiscal hand.

The Senate has approved the passage of a Bill introducing federal rules on gambling advertising. However, caution is advised, as Série A football clubs warn that the restrictions could undermine a critical revenue stream  and raise concerns over how such a statute will be applied in practice…The Senate of Brazil has accepted a further review…