Brazil moves toward unified gambling framework with national betting system talks
Brazil’s Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) will bring together state officials on Friday, April 4 in Brasília to lay the groundwork for a national betting system aimed at aligning the country’s fragmented gambling regulations.
The meeting is another step in federal efforts to standardize oversight as Brazil’s online betting market evolves under new national legislation.
Each of Brazil’s states has been asked to send a representative to discuss up to three pressing issues tied to the creation of a unified regulatory framework.
The SPA believes a centralized system would enhance coordination between federal and state authorities, clarify the scope of federal rules, and establish consistent standards for responsible gambling practices, anti-money laundering protocols, and match-fixing prevention.
The timing of the meeting coincides with the close of the SPA’s public consultation process, which ended on March 27.
The finalized 2025–2026 regulatory agenda which is expected to be published the same day as the meeting, will feature the proposed national betting system as one of its key projects.
SPA chief Regis Dudena has emphasized that regulation should be adaptive and responsive to real-world outcomes.
“We have created a framework of main rules which is quite complete and essential for the start of the regulated fixed-odds betting market, but regulation is a cycle; there are always points to be reviewed and improved,” he said in February.
The push for federal-state cooperation comes amid escalating legal battles between different levels of government.
Most notably, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) recently upheld a ruling that restricts the Rio de Janeiro State Lottery (Loterj) from licensing betting operators beyond state borders.
The court’s decision requires Loterj licensees to use geolocation technology to limit access to users within Rio de Janeiro.
At the municipal level, tensions are also rising. The Solidarity party has called for a suspension of all local lottery operations pending an STF ruling on whether such entities violate the constitution.
While the court declined to freeze municipal lotteries for now, it requested additional evidence from the party and input from the attorney general’s office.
With Brazil’s gambling market undergoing rapid change, the SPA sees the national betting system as a necessary step to bring cohesion and stability to a regulatory landscape that has, until now, been plagued by legal uncertainty and jurisdictional conflict.
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