Bahia prosecutors sue Nuoro Pay, Select Credit and Cartos over payment processing for illegal betting sites

The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Bahia has filed a civil action against Nuoro Pay Instituição de Pagamento Ltda., Select Credit Sociedade de Crédito ao Microempreendedor e a Empresa de Pequeno Porte Ltda., and Cartos Sociedade de Crédito Direto S.A over their alleged role in routing payments to unauthorized fixed-odds betting platforms. For PSPs and acquiring teams, the useful bit is simple: the case is about payment intermediaries, monitoring duties, and what happens when the money trail is built to obscure the end recipient.

1. According to prosecutor Joseane Suzart, who filed the action, Nuoro Pay and Select Credit allegedly handled payments for unauthorized betting houses without taking the diligence measures needed to check the beneficiary companies’ legitimacy and without properly monitoring unusual transactions. Cartos, in turn, is said to have provided the technology and infrastructure that made the payment intermediation with Nuoro Pay possible.
2. The investigation began after a consumer complaint to the MPBA. The complainant said they were hit by a scam involving betting platforms and payment intermediaries, with losses exceeding R$ 100 thousand. The same report was also sent to the Ministry of Finance, the Conselho de Controle de Atividades Financeiras (Coaf), the Central Bank, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Paraná, the Federal Revenue Service, and the Federal Police.
3. During the probe, the MPBA reviewed consumer complaint platforms. In a query carried out in July 2025, it found 1,536 records linked to Nuoro Pay, including requests for refunds, financial consulting, and complaints about unresolved issues. The file also mentions reports of scams and financial fraud involving gaming and betting.
4. In the lawsuit, the MPBA is asking for the seizure of the companies’ assets, rights, and financial assets, as well as those of their shareholders, up to a joint limit of R$ 5 million, to secure any future enforcement of payment obligations. It is also asking the court to pierce the corporate veil of all three companies, add the shareholders to the case, and order the permanent shutdown of Nuoro Pay, Select Credit, and Cartos.
5. The prosecutors also want the companies forced to put transaction-control mechanisms in place, including checks against the list of authorized and unauthorized betting operators maintained by the Ministry of Finance’s Secretariat of Prizes and Bets. The structure described in the case is the familiar one: the betting sites do not receive player funds directly, and fintechs, payment intermediaries, and receiving companies are used to move the money while making the final recipient harder to identify.