RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian authorities began shutting down over 2,000 betting sites on Friday, including those sponsoring popular football club Corinthians and other first division teams, as part of a concerted effort to regulate online gambling.
Finance Minister Fernando Haddad described the situation as a betting “pandemic,” prompting the government to implement stricter regulations in the sector.
Since the legalization of sports betting in 2018, online gambling in Brazil has operated largely without oversight, facing minimal rules or taxes. While many sites focus on sports betting, Brazilians have also become increasingly interested in games like Aviator, where players wager on the trajectory of a virtual airplane, and the online casino game Fortune Tiger.
Under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration, the government has begun cracking down on sites that did not comply with new regulations set to take effect in January. These regulations aim to combat fraud and money laundering while protecting users, including a ban on minors placing bets. “Anyone who is not regularized, or in the process of being regularized, is being taken off the air,” Haddad stated.
The finance ministry has identified 2,040 “suspicious domains” and has requested the telecom regulatory agency Anatel to block them. Esportes da Sorte, which sponsors Corinthians as well as Athletico Paranaense, Bahia, and Gremio de Porto Alegre, is included in this blacklist. The ministry announced that these betting sites will be banned from advertising, including sponsorship of football clubs.
Meanwhile, more than 200 other sites will be allowed to operate after agreeing to adhere to the new regulations. Brazil’s central bank estimates that approximately 24 million of the country’s 212 million residents—about one in nine—engage in online gambling. Recently, Lula warned that betting has led many low-income Brazilians into debt.
