Procon-RJ Fines 175 Betting Companies Over Consumer Law Violations in Rio de Janeiro

Procon-RJ has started issuing sanctions against sports betting platforms in Rio de Janeiro, with 175 companies targeted for breaches of consumer protection rules. For high-risk PSPs, the important part is not the headline fine total but the checklist-driven enforcement model: it turns advertising, disclosure, age checks, and affordability-related conduct into measurable compliance risks.

1. According to O Dia, the sanctions began on Wednesday, 23/9, after Procon-RJ completed inspections of betting operators in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The action covers “bets” and is based on consumer law violations identified by the regulator.
2. The legal basis was set last year through a Joint Technical Note from the Rio de Janeiro State Consumer Defense Secretariat (Sedcon-RJ) and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, via Senacon. That document created an official inspection checklist, defined the conduct expected from companies, and explicitly classified the practices considered irregular in the sector.
3. Under the applicable rules, fines range from R$ 0 to R$ 14 million per provider. Procon-RJ does not assign a generic amount: each penalty is calculated individually using legal dosage criteria, including the number of violations found in the same administrative proceeding, the seriousness of the conduct, the social impact of abusive practices, the company’s economic capacity, and its history of repeat offenses.
4. The violations mapped under Technical Note No. 01/2025 fall into five main categories: misleading or abusive advertising, including offers that present betting as an investment or a financial shortcut; lack of transparency, such as omitting essential information on game rules, odds, and withdrawal mechanisms; encouragement of indebtedness, including failure to warn about operating limits and the risk of overindebtedness; exposure of minors, including weak age verification and advertising aimed at children and teenagers; and irregular operation, meaning companies that keep operating outside legal requirements.
5. Dr. Rogério Pimenta, Secretary of State for Consumer Defense in Rio, said regulation of the sector does not remove the obligation to comply with Brazil’s Consumer Defense Code. He said Procon-RJ is now moving to apply the relevant sanctions after completing the due process in each case.

The timing matters because Brazilian football clubs publicly backed a regulated betting market on 17/9, while also warning that a federal move to ban online casino games could distort the market and strengthen unlicensed operators. For PSPs and acquirers, that is the usual trade-off: when a market tightens, the compliant operators face heavier disclosure and advertising scrutiny, while the black-market crowd keeps selling the dream with fewer checks and fewer invoices.