Brazil Central Bank Blocks Fixed-Odds Betting Payments Under Provisional Measure 1,394

Brazil’s Central Bank has moved to cut off financial transactions connected to fixed-odds betting following the federal government’s prohibition of the sector. The new rules affect payment institutions and financial entities handling transfers to betting operators across the country.

The measures implement provisions linked to Provisional Measure 1,394, published on September 25. Institutions must prevent transactions destined for fixed-odds betting lotteries while preserving a mechanism for returning money to former bettors.

Payment Restrictions Cover Bank Slips and Pix

One measure prevents the processing and settlement of bank slips directed to betting companies. Participating institutions must stop invoices intended for operators covered by the prohibition from being processed.

The restrictions also extend to Pix. Transfers to betting websites blocked within Brazil are prohibited, with an exception retained for transactions needed exclusively to reimburse customers.

Betting websites and applications must become unavailable 10 days after publication. Open bets must be canceled, with bettors receiving their stakes back without deductions. This replaces the regulated framework that had operated nationally since January 2025.

Enforcement Via Financial Monitoring

The Central Bank’s intervention gives financial flows a greater role in efforts to identify unauthorized betting activity. According to reporting by iGaming Brazil, Bruno Medeiros Durão, a banking law specialist and founder of DAP Advocacia, stated: “When public authorities begin tracking financial flows, oversight shifts from merely looking at the betting site’s web address to investigating how money enters, circulates through, and leaves the operation.”

Durão said this approach can help authorities identify accounts, intermediaries and structures that operators may use to bypass restrictions. By September 29, the Ministries of Justice and Finance had requested the removal of 5,209 domains associated with the betting sector. Anatel had ordered 2,387 of those domains to be blocked.

A Central Bank study published in September 2024 estimated that betting and gambling companies received between R$18 billion and R$21 billion each month through Pix during 2024. The study estimated R$20.8 billion in Pix transfers to the sector during August 2024 alone, involving approximately 24 million people.

The new payment restrictions target the financial infrastructure supporting prohibited betting operations while maintaining a route for customer reimbursements. The separate electronic system required to reject and return transfers associated with illegal fixed-odds betting remains pending.

Reporting: Casino News Daily

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