Brazil has taken another step in its fight against illegal gambling after the Chamber of Deputies’ Finance and Taxation Committee approved Bill No. 4.044/2025, which proposes a comprehensive legal framework to combat unlicensed betting activity.
Legislation would expand the country’s existing betting regulations under Law No. 14.790/2023 and introduce stricter measures targeting illegal operators, financial intermediaries.
The legislation proposes to require banks, payment services and other financial services businesses to have increased duties of care or “due diligence”, including, but not limited to: increased record-keeping, monitoring transactions and reporting on a monthly basis total transactions; internal policies of the entity; and denied or restricted transactions due to illegal betting.
Banks and other financial institutions will be allowed and required to join the national fraud prevention systems to exchange ideas about suspected unlicensed betting operators.
Furthermore, the legislation will extend the regulatory requirements for Brazil’s payment processing systems (including Pix) by creating additional categories to classify licensed gaming operators, the use of automated filters based on the nature of the business, the incorporation into risk management and self-exclusion systems, and clearer methods for identifying payments made to gaming operators.
New criminal laws related to operating unlicensed betting operations will also be created by this legislation. These offences will carry substantial penalties, including fines or imprisonment for unlicensed betting operators and for unlicensed gambling activities.
Additionally, there will be substantial penalties for those who advertise or promote unlicensed betting, obstruct the execution of website blocking measures, or otherwise contravene the terms of this new law. Penalties will exist for repeated offenders and for unlicensed betting on foreign websites, the use of anonymity tools or advertising to children and digital influencers.
