Brazil will require betting advertisements to carry Ministry of Finance warnings saying gambling can make people lose money, can be addictive and is not investing. The new rules also bar ads from presenting betting as an investment or a financial solution for families, and they forbid the use of expert-style commentary to steer consumers toward a wager.
The finance ministry published the rules on 10 July, according to BNLData. Companies have a week from publication to adapt, which puts the effective date at 17 July.
The warnings are meant to sit alongside a broader clampdown on how betting is marketed. The ministry says the labels follow a model already used for medicine, cigarette and alcohol advertising. The official wording includes: “Gambling makes you lose money”, “Gambling can be addictive” and “Gambling is not investing.”
The rules go further than the warning text. They prohibit bookmakers from creating a sense of urgency, showing winnings as bait or mixing specialist commentary with statements that a particular bet is the best choice. Finance Minister Dario Durigan said it was not permissible to blend expert analysis with guidance that nudges the consumer toward a specific wager under the guise of technical backing.
A separate ordinance issued with the Ministry of Justice targets unauthorised operators. Broadcasters, publishers and advertising companies are barred from promoting firms without a Brazilian licence, and media outlets could face consumer-protection fines of about BRL 14 million, or roughly $2.7 million. Licensed betting companies face penalties of up to 20% of revenue for serious repeat breaches, plus a suspension of up to 180 days or the loss of authorisation.
Operators are also liable when contracted influencers break the rules. If an influencer runs an irregular advertisement, authorities can remove the content and sanction the betting company.
Durigan said Brazil had already removed about 56,000 illegal betting websites and nearly 1,000 influencer profiles. He also said almost 1 million accounts had been placed under mandatory exclusion because users fell under statutory restrictions, including beneficiaries of government programmes and people enrolled in Desenrola, following a Supreme Court ruling.
In a separate report, IGAMINGTODAY said about 925,000 people had registered under the self-exclusion scheme for the regulated betting market, up from 700,000 in June. The tool, available through the federal government website, blocks new registrations with licensed operators through a participant’s CPF, and users stop receiving promotional messages and ads during the chosen exclusion period.
The crackdown on illegal betting has been building for months. CACB reported that on 19 June Durigan announced measures in Brasília to intensify enforcement, including a decree signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to allow immediate administrative blocking of resources tied to illegal betting. Under that framework, the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting can issue notices of illegality, financial institutions must block the accounts used to move the money and notify the Finance Ministry within 48 hours, and the Justice Ministry later reviews the blocking process.
CACB also reported that the government sees the campaign as part of a wider effort to choke off the finances behind organised crime. It said more than 50,000 illegal betting sites had been blocked since the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting was created in January 2024, along with more than 800 profiles promoting illegal betting, about 300 irregular advertising pieces and around 200 illegal apps removed from digital stores. The secretariat said the sites were linked to roughly 350 clandestine operators and that operations were concentrated in 37 financial institutions.
