Brazil’s finance ministry says more than 5 million people have been blocked from online betting

Brazil’s Finance Minister Dario Durigan said about 800,000 people were excluded from bets after joining Desenrola 2.0, lifting the total number of blocked bettors to 5 million. For PSPs and operators watching Brazil, the useful bit is not the headline number itself but the mix: voluntary self-exclusion, social-program exclusions, and debt-relief-linked exclusions now all feed into the same market access picture.

1. Durigan said on Thursday (13) that more than 800,000 people with active betting accounts were excluded because they joined Desenrola 2.0, Brazil’s debt renegotiation program. In his words, that means they are prevented from betting on online sportsbooks.
2. He said the total number of people excluded from online betting has now reached 5 million. The breakdown he gave was 1.2 million people who chose self-exclusion voluntarily, about 800,000 removed because they were in Desenrola 2.0, and 3 million excluded because they are in social programs such as BCP and Bolsa Família.
3. Brazil’s centralized self-exclusion service was launched in December last year. Through the gov.br portal, users can block their CPF from online betting sites for one, three, six, or 12 months, or indefinitely. During the chosen period, the CPF is unavailable for new registrations and advertising receipt.
4. The government says the centralized self-exclusion tool is “scientifically recognized as an essential strategy” to reduce mental-health harms related to betting. Once a user chooses a fixed term, the decision cannot be reversed during that period. If they choose indefinite self-exclusion, they have up to 12 months to cancel it.
5. Users will also be asked why they self-excluded, with options including voluntary decision, financial difficulties, recommendation from a health professional, loss of control over gambling, or preventing the use of their data on betting platforms.