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Brazil to start freezing illegal betting operators’ funds
The President of Brazil, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, has signed a new decree to authorize the government to freeze illegal online betting operators’ funds.
Signed on June 19, Decree No. 13,033 aims to introduce new enforcement mechanisms against illegal fixed-odds operators, with the collected funds set to go to the National Public Security Fund for fighting against organized crime.
Brazil’s Finance Minister, Dario Durigan, stated:
“The decree will make it more effective to block funds from illegal betting firms at financial institutions that receive and handle these resources.”
Under the new law, the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) will be responsible for identifying illegal platforms and obtaining relevant evidence to block the accounts. The SPA is expected to send blocking notices to banks and payment providers, requiring them to act within 24 hours. Additionally, the Central Bank will monitor the process as well and supervise compliance.
From the operators’ side, they will not receive warnings before their funds are frozen; however, they will receive notices after the enforcement action, alongside details of their defence rights and basis for the findings.
According to the decree, the fund freeze will not be the final enforcement, as the National Public Security Secretariat will be ordered to open an administrative forfeiture process and allow operators to submit their defence within 15 days. After this, the Attorney General has to make a court ruling in order to allow the funds to be forfeited and transferred.
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