Dudena appeared before the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (PIC) investigating gambling today to explain how the government deals with the gambling market, focusing on control and inspection measures. The secretary told the committee that these companies have fulfilled almost all the requirements demanded by the Ministry of Finance to be able to operate properly.

“Thus, 71 companies have already been notified by the Ministry of Finance, and they have 30 days from the notification to comply with these latest requirements. Of these, 16 have already paid the fee. Today we have 16 companies that have already paid a total of R$480 million in subsidies to the Ministry of Finance,” he said. “They started to be notified on the 19th of last month, so they have until the 18th of this month or the 19th of this month to comply with this payment, so some have already complied and some have not yet complied,” he continued.

Opened in May this year, the deadline for companies to apply for certification was August. During this period, 114 companies applied to the Ministry. In September, the Ministry of Finance issued a decree suspending the operations of fixed odds betting companies, also known as quinielas, that had not applied for authorisation to operate in the country.

The deadline for applying for authorisation expired on 1 October and the websites of companies that had not applied for operating regulations began to go offline on 11 October. Companies that had applied for a licence but were not yet operating will still have to wait to start operating in January, if the ministry gives the go-ahead.

“Since then, we have had three waves of domains identified by our department, in many cases with the assistance of the Federal Police and other prosecution agencies. We have taken down a total of 5,283 domains. There were three waves: one of 2,027, another of 1,443, a third of 1,813. So, 5,283 sites have already been taken down, and we already have another wave to be sent to Anatel [the National Telecommunications Agency] to be taken down,” Dudena said.

The decree also determined that, as of 1 January 2025, only authorised bookmakers will be allowed to operate the activity in the country, which will take place exclusively on a Brazilian internet domain, with the extension ‘bet.br’. Authorised bookmakers that pay the subsidy will be able to operate up to three brands for five years.
Dudena also said that the ministry continues to monitor the activities of companies that have applied for authorisation. According to the secretary, some of them are taking advantage of the regulation period to continue to engage in illegal acts.

“We have been very committed to monitoring this sector to identify who are the players and who are the relevant service providers. So, if, on the one hand, we have some companies that, taking advantage of this compliance period, are doing activities that seem illegal to us, we have notified them and we have managed, in most cases, or so far, in all cases, to get them to retract these activities, such as, for example, the company that had more domains available on its website than was possible. In addition, financial service providers, we have also identified, and here again together with the Central Bank, with the Federal Police working group, to recognise who these companies are and how they have been acting,” he said.

Another point raised during the IPC meeting was the use of fake CPFs to place financial bets and also to open betting companies. According to the secretary, from 1 January, when only authorised companies will be able to operate, there will be reliable data to carry out inspections.

“Through the system, we have a first mechanism to identify these specific cases in which, for example, a CNPJ, or a voided CPF, or a CPF that should not be there and is; and then from that, an inspection action will be generated by our undersecretariat, which, again, can derive both in information to the criminal prosecution bodies and, within the betting regulatory system, in inspection actions, sanctions and, ultimately, even cessation,” he said.

“From 1 January, all companies authorised to operate in Brazil will be national companies incorporated in Brazil, according to Brazilian law, of which we will know who the partners are, who the final beneficiaries are, who the administrators are, and then we will have total control, both of the legal entities and of the natural persons involved in the activity,” he continued.
Dudena also referred to measures such as the suspension of online gambling advertising aimed at children and adolescents.

“Targeted advertising in environments where the majority of people present are children and adolescents is restricted. One of the examples I cite is: we have a football team that had their U-17 team sponsored by a betting company. We notified this company and they withdrew their sponsorship, because it is a typical example of activity directed at children and adolescents that, in this context, cannot take place,” he concluded.