Brazil’s Ministry of Finance has now brought financial institutions into the line of fire of the country’s raid on illegal sports betting businesses.
Ordinace No. 17,66 dated June 17, 2026 details enforcement measures under Complementary Law No. 224/2025 and makes it jointly liable for taxes banks, scheme operators and any payment methods with unauthorized betting services if they carry on processing payments following a notification by the government.
Notification of such transactions by the authorities begins the timeline for the ordinance, starting a timer the moment a notice of infringement is issued. Financial institutions have just 24 hours to block all new transactions with the flagged operator — failure to act triggers joint tax liability. The crackdown extends beyond payment providers: advertisers and promoters of illegal platforms can face the same consequences.
The Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) and the Federal Revenue Service (RFB) will coordinate enforcement together. Authorities see cutting off financial access as one of the most effective levers for pushing illegal operators out of the market and toward licensed alternatives.
Such is part of a nationwide program to clamp down on shady schemes that the federal government has been implementing that has led to 50,000 websites being blocked since October 2024 after a cooperation agreement was signed between national telecommunications operator ANATEL. 780 social media accounts have been removed by the regulators and additionally 306 posts and 190 mobile applications related to unauthorized betting services have also been withdrawn.
A centralised self-exclusion tool was introduced in December last year for those that wished to take time away from licensed gambling and over 650,000 requests were processed through this system for that year to avoid any interaction with the licensed operators. Complementary to the newly introduced ordinance, Decree 13,033 (issued on June 18, 2026) sets rules regarding the blocking of bank accounts of entities linked to unauthorized operations, along with rules about the proceeding for confiscation of assets for the benefit of the federal public treasury.
Together, the two measures mark another significant step in Brazil’s effort to clean up its betting market and protect the integrity of its regulated gambling environment.
