Brazil’s regulated sports betting and igaming market officially went live yesterday, 1 January, with 66 operators having been approved to launch in the South American nation.
The Prizes and Betting Secretariat (SPA) of Brazil’s Ministry of Finance revealed the list of approved companies, with 14 having been handed permanent licences and 52 retaining provisional authorisation.
The list, published in the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU), consisting of 66 licences in total, will see 137 different brands legally allowed to operate in the market.
Each company that received a licence, valid for five years, made a mandatory payment of BRL30m (£3.8m) to the federal government, securing the Treasury BRL2.1bn in total, as of 31 December 2024.
Superbet, BetMGM and SportyBet were all handed definitive licences, along with local heroes KTO Group and Betnacional, with Flutter due to take majority ownership of the latter this year.
Operators such as Betsson, Stake, Caesars and the two market leaders in Brazil, Betano and bet365, have been granted provisional authorisation.
Those firms operating on a provisional basis have a 30-day window, which can be extended to 60 days, to submit mandatory technical certificates to complete respective processes.
Failure to comply could see authorisations suspended for 90 days and ultimately revoked.
Companies granted a licence to operate in the Brazilian market face a 12.5% tax rate on gross gambling revenue, as well as advertising and player protection rules as outlined by the SPA.
Though the SPA evaluated 103 licence requests, 271 were actually submitted, but 168 failed to meet the 20 August deadline. In turn, those will be assessed by the regulator over the course of the next five months.
Following the market going live on 1 January, any sites serving Brazilian consumers without a licence from this point onwards will be viewed as an illegal operator.
Each company that was not granted a licence has the right to appeal the decision, while operators can also opt to try to gain state-level authorisation to help establish a foothold in the Brazil market.
The likes of Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Paraíba, and Maranhão will all offer state-level licences, ranging from BRL2m to BRL5m in fees.
SPA chief Regis Dudena said: “The country is taking a fundamental step towards facing the potential problems associated with the sector.
“We will start 2025 with strict and clear rules, in addition to mechanisms to demand their compliance and operators to be held accountable.
“The imposition of these rules and their implementation are the result of a huge effort by employees of the Ministry of Finance, under the command of Minister Haddad and President Lula.”
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SPA publishes 14 definitive licensees alongside 66 provisionally approved operators, while more than 150 requests to be assessed in first five months of 2025
The post Brazil’s regulator names 66 authorised operators as market goes live first appeared on EGR Intel.