Brazil backs Decree No. 13.033/2026 to squeeze illegal fixed-odds betting, with IBJR and ANJL support

Brazil’s Instituto Brasileiro do Jogo Responsável (IBJR) and Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL) have formally backed Decree No. 13.033/2026, as President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government moves to weaken the country’s illegal fixed-odds betting market. For PSPs, banks, advertisers, and payment firms, the key point is simple: the new framework is not just going after operators, but also the payment and commercial rails around them.

1. Published at the end of June 2026, the decree introduces mechanisms to block funds linked to clandestine operators and creates joint liability for financial institutions, payment companies, and advertisers that facilitate or benefit from collections generated by unauthorized platforms. It is complemented by Ordinance No. 1.766/2026, which sets out the operational rules for enforcing those measures.
2. The scale of the illegal market is the reason the government is taking this route. At a press conference, Justice Minister Wellington César Lima said 25.2 million Brazilians place bets on illegal websites. Plínio Lemos Jorge, president of ANJL, said that figure shows why inspection measures were not enough on their own.
3. According to research by Instituto Locomotiva together with LCA, illegal betting in Brazil generates about 40,000 million reais a year, equivalent to about $7.700 million. From that amount, the Brazilian tax authority is estimated to miss around 10.800 million reais annually, or approximately $2.080 million, money that would otherwise go to priority public spending if the activity were in the regulated market.
4. ANJL said the measures are not a standalone reaction but the result of sustained coordination between the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) and representatives of the regulated sector. The association highlighted the SPA’s role in building enforcement tools and systematizing information on illegal operators.
5. Lemos Jorge said the decree strengthens the state’s ability to act not only against the operators themselves, but also against the structures that keep those platforms running and funded. He also warned that the industry is technically sophisticated and adapts quickly, so enforcement has to be continuous, coordinated, and dynamic. In other words: if a payment route is working today, that does not mean it will still be working tomorrow.

For high-risk payment providers, Brazil is signalling a clearer compliance expectation: if funds, advertisers, or infrastructure support unauthorized betting, the exposure is no longer limited to the operator. The decree explicitly reaches the surrounding payment chain, which is where a lot of the real money lives anyway.