Brazil says 77% of bettors used illegal platforms, with facial recognition, bet.br and credit-card rules often ignored

An O Globo editorial says illegal betting practices still account for a large share of Brazil’s market, with a Locomotiva survey finding that 77% of users placed bets in the last three months on platforms that broke at least one rule. For PSPs and acquirers, the takeaway is straightforward: the compliance gap is not theoretical, and the banned payment rails are part of the problem.

1. According to the Locomotiva survey, the most common violations were the absence of facial recognition, cited by 53% of respondents, and the use of domains other than the only authorized one, bet.br, cited by 48%.
2. André Santa Rita, a lawyer quoted in the piece, said facial recognition is meant to block access by people who are barred from betting, including minors and anyone who may have access to information about sports events being wagered on. He also said sites using domains outside bet.br do so to evade oversight and operate without restrictions, including to scam bettors.
3. The editorial also flags payment-method violations. In the survey, 37% said they were able to pay for bets with credit cards, and 23% said they used cryptoassets, both of which are prohibited. Daniel Dias, a lawyer at FGV Direito Rio, said the crypto ban is meant to prevent money laundering, identify the source of funds and preserve financial traceability.
4. The government has tightened enforcement on users who do not follow the rules. Brazil’s finance ministry said 800,000 people were removed from betting platforms after entering Desenrola, the debt-renegotiation program, bringing the total number of people prohibited from betting to 5 million.
5. The survey suggests illegal practices remain widespread despite that pressure: from January to June last year, six in ten respondents said they recognized at least two illegal practices while betting; in the following half-year, that share fell to 55%; in May, it was still 50%. Among people earning up to two minimum wages, the figure reached 51%.

The editorial also says betting tax revenue has already reached R$ 9 billion a year, according to Dario Durigan, who spoke in a congressional hearing. For payment providers, the commercial point is obvious enough: the more the government squeezes offshore-style and rule-breaking betting flows, the more pressure there is on illegal acceptance routes and the more visible the enforcement risk around card payments, crypto and domain-based evasion.