Brazil strikes deal with tech giants to police online betting content

Brazil’s Ministry of Finance and the Digital Council of Brazil signed a cooperation agreement Thursday to strengthen oversight of the country’s online betting market, with a particular focus on social media platforms. The move is intended to strengthen enforcement against gambling content that violates national laws and to enhance safeguards for children and teenagers in the digital space.

The agreement was formalized during a ceremony at the Ministry of Finance headquarters in Brasília, reports Gamez Magazine Brasil.

Under the arrangement, the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA), which operates under the Finance Ministry, and the Digital Council, a coalition representing major tech companies such as Google, Meta, TikTok, Kwai and Amazon, will coordinate efforts to identify, report and remove online content tied to illegal gambling.

“This agreement is very important for the fixed-odds betting market in Brazil. When the Prize and Betting Secretariat began its work, it realized that there was such an intertwined connection with the digital world that it concluded that an agreement like this would be necessary,” said Regis Dudena, the head of the SPA.

Key elements of the pact include establishing bilateral communication channels so that SPA and digital platforms can quickly share notifications about problematic content and streamline requests for removal. The collaboration is also designed to ensure that Brazilian laws protecting minors are more effectively upheld across digital environments.

Felipe França, Executive Director of the Digital Council of Brazil, described the agreement as a significant first. “This is an unprecedented moment. For the first time, the ecosystem of application providers presents itself in a coordinated way, as a collective, represented by the Digital Council of Brazil,” he said.

“The agreement with the Prizes and Betting Secretariat arises from the understanding that regulating the fixed-odds betting modality, especially in the digital environment, requires not only standards, but also technical cooperation, institutional articulation, and permanent channels of dialogue,” he said.

The development comes as Brazil intensifies efforts to regulate fixed-odds betting, which has grown rapidly alongside the country’s digital economy. According to França, tackling illegal betting sites and the advertising that promotes them requires more than regulations on paper.