Brazil’s Finance Ministry prepares new online betting rules, including platform design limits and game recertification

Brazil’s Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA-MF), part of the Ministry of Finance, told the Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL) on Tuesday (4/8) that it will publish an Interministerial Ordinance in the coming weeks with new rules for the online betting sector. For operators and PSPs, the interesting part is not just consumer protection language — it is the technical follow-through: platform changes and recertification of games within 180 days.

1. The SPA-MF said the ordinance will set requirements for platform design, user experience (UX), and consumer protection, and will also impose technical requirements that force operators to recertify their games. The text has not been published yet, and the information released so far is preliminary.
2. The regulator outlined two regulatory tracks. One focuses on technical requirements for online games and the certification process for platforms. The other covers design, UX, and consumer protection, with a list of prohibited practices for operators.
3. Among the platform bans already listed by the SPA are countdown timers, clocks, or language that pushes rushed decisions; loyalty programs that award points, badges, or mission progress based solely on deposit volume; statistics, tutorials, or suggestions implying that online games depend on skill or analysis; pre-filled amounts on deposit screens or betting slips; depreciative, offensive, or loss-inducing language when offers are refused; leaderboards, top-winner rankings, and real-time feeds of third-party prizes; chats, communities, or automatic suggestions for group bets; and pop-ups or promotional screens during withdrawal requests.
4. On the technical side, the future ordinance is expected to impose four restrictions for online games that will require updates to index documents and recertification with the SPA. The Secretariat said it is still structuring that part of the rulemaking.
5. The meeting where the update was shared included SPA-MF Secretary Daniele Correa Cardoso and Deputy Secretary Fabio Augusto Macorin on the government side. The private sector was represented by ANJL president Plinio Augusto Lemos Jorge, along with Giovanna Thaís Dias da Silva, Pietro Cardia Lorenzon, and Bernardo Cavalcanti Freire. The Instituto Brasileiro de Jogo Responsável (IBJR) was represented by Head of Institutional and Government Relations Fabio da Silva Caires and Executive President Carlos Eduardo Cabral de Lima.

For high-risk operators in Brazil, this is the sort of rulemaking that matters operationally: it does not just change copy on a landing page, it can affect product design, certification cycles, and how quickly a platform can ship changes without tripping compliance work.