Brazil orders banks, processors and wallets to block payment flows tied to illegal gambling

Brazil’s Secretariat for Prizes and Betting (SPA) has published new procedures to identify and interrupt financial transactions linked to unlicensed betting operators. For licensed PSPs, the message is simple: the regulator is now looking at the payment layer, not just the websites.

1. Published on 14 September, Ordinance SPA/MF No. 2,750/2026 sets out how Brazil will tackle the financial flows supporting illegal gambling. The rules apply to licensed financial institutions and payment services, including banks, payment processors, intermediaries and online wallets handling transactions linked to gambling.
2. Providers must monitor suspicious activity, report evidence of illegal betting to SPA, comply with account-blocking notices and put controls in place to prevent further payments from directly or indirectly financing unauthorised activity. In practice, that means the burden sits on the financial side to spot and stop repeat movement of funds, not just react to a single flagged transfer.
3. The ordinance lists several warning signs institutions should watch for: frequent small or medium-value transfers from multiple senders, sudden jumps in transaction volume, references to betting or games in payment descriptions, repeated replacement of Pix keys, QR codes, payment links or recipient accounts, activity that does not fit a company’s declared business, newly formed companies receiving large numbers of transfers, transactions concentrated in intermediary accounts, and new accounts or third-party recipients appearing after a block.
4. The rules also require institutions to look beyond isolated transactions and detect changes in payment behaviour that may indicate attempts to circumvent restrictions. SPA will issue a formal finding of irregularity naming the operator, its websites, applications and domains, as well as associated accounts and transactions; that finding then supports notices telling financial and payment institutions to block the operator’s accounts and stop funds moving.
5. Coordination is built into the process. Communications should preferably go through the Central Bank’s secure electronic system, while information on account blocks may also be forwarded to the National Secretariat of Public Security (Senasp). Carlos Renato Xavier de Resende, SPA’s Undersecretary for Monitoring and Oversight, said the ordinance strengthens coordination with participants in Brazil’s National Financial System and Brazilian Payment System.

The high-risk takeaway is clear: Brazil is formalising a payment-enforcement workflow for illegal fixed-odds betting, and it pulls banks, PSPs and wallets into the compliance chain. The controls are aimed at the infrastructure that receives and moves money, not only at the operator-facing front end.