Foreign betting sites remain accessible in Brazil despite Lula’s ban

Brazil’s new restriction on online betting has not taken foreign operators off the table. According to a report by Estadão, at least 17 large international platforms are still available to users in Brazil, with registration flowing through without blocks.

1. The platforms in question belong to established betting brands with sponsorships across European football, athletes, and international competitions. Estadão tested the sites directly and completed sign-up flows on all of them without difficulty.
2. None of the identified operators applied for authorization from the Brazilian government to operate in the country from 2025 onward, which is why they were not covered by the ban. In practice, that leaves them outside the scope of the block that hit the licensed market.
3. The sites are being promoted by influencers on social networks and in Telegram groups. One public group with about 30,000 members directs bettors to these platforms and offers sign-up bonuses for new users, a practice that was also banned in the regulated market.
4. The Brazilian Ministry of Finance was asked whether it planned action against these platforms, but did not respond before publication.
5. The mapped operators offer Portuguese-language subpages, Brazilian football betting, and use images of athletes tied to advertising deals, including former footballer Andrés Iniesta and former basketball player Dennis Rodman. Examples cited by the report include Melbet, Pin-up, Linebet, Betika, and Cloudbet, each with specific regional or club-level sponsorships.

The policy backdrop matters for PSPs because Brazil’s formal licensing regime was already set around roughly 200 sites from about 80 companies, with licensing requirements including a Brazilian office, a Brazilian partner, and a R$ 30 million fee. Outside that framework sits a parallel market of so-called “Chinese bets,” which the report says has always operated illegally, including during the period when the formal market was live.