Brazil identifies 10,435 illegal betting sites for blocking after provisional measure

Brazilian authorities submitted 10,435 illegal betting websites to the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) for blocking in the first week after Provisional Measure No. 1.394/2026 took effect. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security reported a R$652.6 million reduction in player deposits — a 30.99% fall — as of 26 September. The enforcement package also targets social media, app stores and financial flows.

How the 10,435 illegal betting sites were identified and sent for blocking

Between 25 September and 1 October, federal authorities compiled and referred 10,435 distinct illegal betting domains to Anatel for technical blocking. The referral was part of actions taken under Provisional Measure No. 1.394/2026, which bans gambling activities that include operation, facilitation and advertising of betting.

The ministries published a separate list of content hosted on social media and messaging platforms: 3,040 individual pages, profiles, channels, groups or servers were marked for removal. The breakdown of those social entries is:

• 1,974 Facebook pages

• 375 Instagram profiles

• 605 Telegram channels, groups and profiles

• 85 TikTok profiles

• 1 Discord server

Platforms where the identified material appeared on Telegram, Discord and TikTok separately reached approximately 3.46 million users, members or followers, according to the ministries' figures.

Social platforms and app stores notified to remove betting advertising

The Ministry of Justice and Public Security and the Ministry of Finance notified major global platforms to remove betting-related advertising and listings. Notices were sent to Google, Apple, Meta, YouTube, X, Telegram, TikTok, Kwai and Discord. In parallel, 186 apps listed on Apple App Store and Google Play were flagged with a removal notice; those app providers were given until 6 October to take down betting advertising.

Authorities also asked app stores and platforms to act on the social pages identified in the 3,040-item list. The ministries emphasised that the notices cover promotional material that contravenes the provisional measure's ban on advertisement and facilitation of betting.

Decree No. 13.131/2026 expanded enforcement powers

A related executive instrument, Decree No. 13.131/2026, entered into force on 1 October and broadened the operational authority of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública, MJSP). The decree assigns new functions to the National Secretariat for Digital Rights (Secretaria Nacional de Direitos Digitais, Sedigi). Sedigi's responsibilities include observing platform content, requesting information from providers, examining transparency reports and notifying providers and app stores to remove content that violates the provisional measure.

Decree No. 13.131/2026 also mandates the Federal Police to establish a permanent unit focused on money laundering and asset recovery. The unit's remit explicitly includes monitoring financial flows linked to illegal betting, sports manipulation, cryptocurrencies and other crime-related channels.

Financial impact and the Central Bank data cited by the Finance Minister

Finance Minister Dario Durigan said the ministries worked in partnership with the Central Bank to analyse transactional flows tied to betting. He reported that the daily movement of funds to betting houses before the provisional measure was roughly R$600 million per day, and that this movement “ceased to exist from Saturday onwards, the day after the provisional measure came into effect.”

"The first very important piece of data we received in partnership with the Central Bank is that the daily movement of funds to betting houses, before last Friday, was around R$ 600 million per day. This movement ceased to exist from Saturday onwards, the day after the provisional measure came into effect," said Finance Minister Dario Durigan.

The ministries' published figures show that, by 26 September, deposits to betting platforms had fallen by R$652.6 million, a 30.99% decline compared with the prior reported period.

"In one week, considering the daily activity related to betting, the takedown of websites, and the work of suffocating these activities, with the reinforcement of the structure within the Ministry of Justice, we already have effective protection for families' salaries, which are no longer going to online gambling," Durigan added.

Account balances, refunds and the timetable for returning funds

The government ordered that operators must provide financial institutions with details of outstanding player balances identified by CPF (Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas) on 7 and 8 October. Banks were instructed to return those funds to customers between 9 and 14 October. The two-step timetable — operator reporting followed by bank refunds — is the mechanism named in the ministries' announcement for restoring customer balances held on prohibited platforms.

What this means for platforms, payment processors and compliance teams

The combined actions create obligations across several sectors. Telecommunications providers will receive formal blocking requests from Anatel. Platforms and app stores have been warned to remove advertising and listings by set deadlines. Financial institutions will be asked to process bulk reconciliations and refunds based on CPF-level data supplied by operators.

Compliance and risk teams should note the new role given to Sedigi for oversight of platform transparency reports and the Federal Police's new unit for financial monitoring. These institutional changes signal ongoing operational engagement between regulators, law enforcement and the Central Bank on payment flows linked to illegal betting.

Next steps and open questions

Authorities have delivered administrative notices, technical blocking requests and a legal framework that broadened enforcement tools on 1 October. The ministries' data cover the initial week after the provisional measure; subsequent enforcement rounds and further platform removals were not included in the published figures. Observers in Brazil's technology and payments sectors will be tracking: the completeness of Anatel's blocking actions, app store removals following the 6 October notices, and the Federal Police unit's early findings on money flows and asset recovery.

For regulation-focused readers, the sequence shows how a provisional law, supporting decree and inter-agency operational work combine to target illegal online markets. For operational teams, the immediate tasks are handling platform takedown notices, preparing for information requests from Sedigi and implementing CPF-based reconciliation and refund processes with financial-sector partners. Relevant coverage on platform and legal implications appears in our regulation and b2b sections.