Brazil's Ministry of Sports clarifies approval process for sports betting and iGaming

Brazil’s Ministry of Sports has issued clear guidelines for approving sports betting and iGaming operations through the recently published MESP Ordinance 98/2024. This ordinance outlines that the National Sports Betting Secretariat will lead the effort in reviewing applications, appointing a technical team responsible for analyzing licensing requests.

The team, composed of three members, will document their assessments in the Betting Management System (Sigap) before proceeding with approvals.

Following the framework set by Interministerial Ordinance 28/2024, the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) is responsible for conducting the initial review of all betting license applications. After SPA’s assessment, final approval comes from the Ministry of Sports. In cases where discrepancies arise, the Attorney General’s Office will intervene to make the final determination.

The ordinance also establishes the role of the Directorate of Monitoring and Evaluation of Sports Betting in forming a technical team, which will include a director and two general coordinators, one from the Monitoring Department and one from the Integrity Department. This group is tasked with evaluating the applications, requesting additional information when needed, and recording their decisions in Sigap. 

On the other hand, Brazilian government, under President Lula, earlier this week, announced plans to introduce restrictions on payments for sports betting and online gambling, starting this week. The move comes as part of broader efforts to regulate the fast-growing gambling sector in the country. However, details on the specific measures are still under discussion.

The Ministry of Finance has scheduled discussions with legal sports betting operators in Brazil to address the payment restrictions. According to Dário Durigan, executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance, these talks will focus on authorized websites that continue to operate in the country.