Brazil’s Ministry of Finance prohibits social welfare beneficiaries from placing bets

On October 1, 2025, the Brazilian Ministry of Finance’s Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) published SPA/MF Ordinance No. 2,217. The ordinance amends SPA/MF Ordinance No. 1,231/2024 to determine that betting operators must prevent beneficiaries of two social welfare programs (Bolsa Família and Benefício de Prestação Continuada) from registering on or using their betting systems.

The ordinance was issued together with Instruction SPA/MF No. 22/2025, which covers the procedures that betting operators must adopt to ensure people included in these social programs do not place bets.

The main obligations for operators include conducting periodic consultations with Brazil’s Bet Management System (SIGAP) to verify whether their users feature in the beneficiary databases of these programs. Such consultations must be carried out especially:

• Whenever a user registers on the betting operator’s system;
• Whenever a user logs into the system for the first time each day; and
• On a minimum 15-day basis, in order to confirm if any already registered users have joined either of the two social programs.

In the event a betting operator identifies a user with an open account or registration in their system who has been listed as a beneficiary of one of the social welfare programs, it must close the user’s account within three days. It must also notify the user that the account has been closed and enable them to withdraw any remaining funds in the account.

Betting operators now have a 30-day deadline (from October 1, 2025) to implement the procedures in Instruction SPA/MF No. 22/2025.

For more information on this topic, please contact Mattos Filho’s Entertainment practice area.