Brazil’s Congress to hold hearing on online betting piracy, with regulators and industry groups split on how much of the market is illegal

Brazilian lawmakers are set to revisit one of the messier questions in online betting: how much of the activity is actually taking place on licensed platforms, and how much is still running through illegal operators. That matters because enforcement, payment blocking, and PSP risk decisions all depend on the same thing: a number people can agree on.

1. The hearing was requested by Deputy Julio Lopes (PP-RJ) and will be held this Tuesday (11) at 3 p.m. by the External Commission on Piracy Acts and the Brasil Legal Agenda in the Chamber of Deputies. Its stated focus is the impact of piracy on the online betting market.
2. The dispute is over the size of the illegal segment. The federal government estimates that up to 70% of bets are already flowing through the regulated market, while industry entities say illegal platforms still account for about half of all transaction volume in the sector.
3. The gap became public during a hearing held by the Commission on March 24, 2026. In that session, federal government representatives presented data showing a strong advance in legalization, while sector associations argued that piracy still represents approximately 50% of the market.
4. According to Lopes, the new hearing is meant to bring together experts and public and private-sector representatives to discuss the methodologies used, resolve the disagreements, and help design more effective measures against illegal platforms. In practice, that means Brazil is still trying to settle the basic measurement problem before tightening the screws on enforcement.
5. The request lists 11 invitees across law enforcement, regulators, industry bodies, and academia: Lincoln Gakiya of GAECO at the Public Prosecutor’s Office of São Paulo (MPSP), a representative of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, Dennis Cali of the Federal Police’s DICOR, Giovanni Rocco of the Ministry of Sport’s SNAEDE, Daniele Correa Cardoso of the Ministry of Finance’s SPA, Carlos Lima of IBJR, Plínio Lemos Jorge of ANJL, Letícia Ferraz of Labsul, Rodrigo Marinho of ILM, and Vital do Rêgo Filho, Minister and President of the Court of Accounts.

For PSPs, acquirers, and banks working around Brazilian betting, the practical issue is not just regulation on paper. It is how much of the volume sits outside the licensed channel, because that is the part most likely to drive blocking measures, monitoring pressure, and uncomfortable questions from counterparties.