Brazil’s Federal Police creates DRAME unit to target illegal betting and match-fixing as MP das bets takes effect

Brazil’s Ministry of Justice has created a dedicated Federal Police unit for illegal betting and sports manipulation for the first time, formalizing a shift that treats the clandestine betting market as a financial-crime problem, not just a licensing problem. For PSPs, acquirers, and banks, the key point is that betting flows are now explicitly being pulled into anti-money-laundering and asset-recovery enforcement.

1. The new unit is called the Divisão de Repressão a Apostas Ilegais e Manipulação de Esportes (DRAME), and it sits inside the Federal Police structure created by Portaria MJSP nº 1.325, dated 9 October 2026 and published in the Diário Oficial da União on Tuesday (13). The order was signed by Minister Wellington César Lima e Silva.
2. DRAME has a related Service de Análise de Apostas (SEAAP) attached to it. This is the first time the Federal Police’s staffing and functions chart has included a unit specifically for betting; in the version updated through July this year, there was no dedicated betting area.
3. The betting division sits inside a brand-new broader body, the Coordenação-Geral de Repressão à Lavagem de Dinheiro e Recuperação de Ativos (CGLA), which is subordinate to the Diretoria de Investigação e Combate ao Crime Organizado e à Corrupção (DICOR). In other words, the police are placing illegal betting under the same umbrella as financial intelligence and asset recovery.
4. The original proposal sent by Federal Police director-general Andrei Rodrigues had called for two separate divisions: one for illegal betting and one for sports-result manipulation. The version that was ultimately approved combined both issues into a single division.
5. The timing matters. The reorganization arrives during the force of Medida Provisória nº 1.394/2026, the MP das bets, which was issued on 25 September and banned fixed-odds betting in Brazil. The decree underpinning the portaria was signed five days later, on 30 September.

Before the MP, “illegal betting” meant operations without authorization from the Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas (SPA/MF), and those already accounted for more than 40% of the market even after 22 months of regulation. After the MP, all sports betting and online gaming supply has been pushed into the clandestine category, which is a very different enforcement problem for any payment stack touching Brazil.