Brazil’s online gambling ban hits Pay4Fun, Caleta Gaming and Kambi in different ways

President Lula’s online gambling ban in Brazil has already moved beyond the initial shock and into the less glamorous phase: layoffs, stranded investment and business models that were built around a regulated market that no longer exists. For PSPs and suppliers in high-risk verticals, the point is not just that Brazil changed direction — it is that exposure to one country can mean very different things depending on where the revenue comes from.

1. Pay4Fun says 95% of its revenue comes from the Brazilian iGaming market, so the ban cut straight into the company’s core business. CEO Ari Celia told iGB: “The impact was terrible for us. No one was expecting that this could hit everybody the way it did. It’s our main market. And handling this scenario now, especially with our employees, has been very difficult.”
2. Celia also described the decision in blunt terms: “Surreal. That's the word. That's the only word to describe this situation.” For payment providers tied to one regulated jurisdiction, that is the operational risk in plain English: if the market disappears, there is no easy reroute.
3. Kambi’s exposure was materially smaller. A spokesperson said Brazil represented a low single-digit percentage of Kambi’s revenue, so the immediate financial impact is limited. Still, the company noted that the ban “does potentially remove a market we expected to grow over time.”
4. Florianópolis-based game developer Caleta Gaming had already certified 47 games for the Brazilian market and had committed resources to technical integrations, regulatory documentation and cloud infrastructure. CEO Fabiola Jaeger told iGB: “We committed a considerable amount of time and resource from our team to this process. It’s difficult to see much time and effort and money potentially going to waste.”
5. Jaeger said that work cannot simply be repurposed elsewhere: “Other markets might help offset part of the impact, but this takes time, and unfortunately, the investments we made in Brazil cannot simply be transferred to another country, another jurisdiction.” She also said the company’s goal of being present across all regulated Brazilian operators by the end of 2026 now looks out of reach.

More than 3,500 people have reportedly lost their jobs in Brazil as a direct result of the ban. For high-risk PSPs, processors and suppliers, the useful lesson is not sentimental; it is balance-sheet level: market access, licensing, integrations and local staffing can all become stranded the moment a jurisdiction changes its mind.