In order to increase the protection of bettors, the Ministry of Finance's Secretariat for Prizes and Betting (SPA in its original in portuguese) published, on Tuesday (26/11), a new Ordinance for the migration of bettors' values and data. This is another step towards the start of the regulated market on 1 January 2025.

SPA/MF Ordinance No. 1.857, of 25 November 2024, aims to regulate the transfer of funds and data from punters who are using the betting sites of the current transition period, which will end at the end of this year, to the sites that will be authorised by the Ministry of Finance from 1 January. Part of the betting sites currently belong to companies located abroad. Next year, only electronic addresses with the extension ‘.bet.br’ - which will exclusively belong to authorised companies and are therefore based in Brazil - will be able to operate legally in the country.

This transfer will depend on the authorisation of the punter, who will have to register at the new electronic address, according to the rules determined by the Ministry of Finance. These include the registration of facial biometrics and a current account, from which the funds for betting will come and to which the winnings will be sent.

If the punter does not accept the transfer of their funds or the company that owns the site does not obtain authorisation, the punter's funds must be returned to them by 31 December. In the case of bets that are still open, punters can cancel the bets, with a full refund of the amount wagered, or they can keep the bet, which will be held by the authorised company.

In any case, punters' data will be protected in accordance with the General Data Protection Act (LGPD) and Ordinance 722/2024.

Companies carrying out the migration must submit a list of participating bettors by 13 December.