Brazil: Anatel lacks funds to block illegal betting sites as staffing crisis deepens

Brazil's National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) is struggling to maintain enforcement against illegal online betting platforms following the expiration of a key funding agreement and continued understaffing, according to agency president Carlos Baigorri.

Speaking publicly about the issue, Baigorri confirmed that Anatel had successfully taken down approximately 15,000 illegal betting sites in partnership with the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA). 

However, the technological infrastructure used for these operations was funded through an R$8 million (US$1.45 million) agreement with UNESCO, which has now lapsed, leaving the agency without the resources to continue site takedowns at the same scale.

Amid rising activity in the unregulated betting market, Baigorri addressed the need to expand the agency’s operational capabilities. With a public selection process underway to recruit 50 new staff, Anatel estimates it will require an annual budget of R$23 million (US$4.15 million) to support the added personnel. 

“It is not yet known how many of these employees will be directed to controlling betting,” Baigorri said. “We may have to establish new partnerships.”

The Betting and Fantasy Sports Association (ABFS) has appealed directly to Anatel’s leadership, urging the agency to restructure its technical workforce to better confront the growing threat of illegal betting operations. 

In a formal letter to Baigorri, the association recommended prioritizing the appointment of successful candidates from the 2024 public selection process to the role of Regulatory Specialist.

Currently, Anatel faces a 25.8% vacancy rate in its regulatory specialist roles, with 141 positions unfilled. The ABFS pointed to upcoming retirements in 2026 as a further strain on the agency’s workforce and called for urgent structural adjustments. 

However, any significant increase in Anatel’s staff capacity requires approval through a presidential decree and a favorable opinion from the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services.

Baigorri criticized the lack of institutional infrastructure during remarks at a recent event in Madrid. “The governance model for regulating the betting business is still very, let's say, not very institutionalized,” he said. 

“You think that the electricity and telecommunications sectors have an agency, civil servants with a career, a collegiate body, a regulatory impact process, and public consultation. The betting sector does not," Baigorri stated. "There is a secretariat in the Ministry of Finance that decides in a monocratic manner, by ordinance.”