Brazil’s Secretariat of Prizes and Betting establishes guidelines for the Desenrola Brasil restrictions

On May 4, 2026, the Brazilian government enacted Provisional Measure No. 1,355/26, creating the Novo Desenrola Brasil program. The program facilitates debt renegotiation for families, students, and companies, covering obligations from credit cards, cheque especial (a form of pre-approved revolving credit automatically linked to checking accounts), and personal loans.

By enrolling in the renegotiation, beneficiaries agree not to use licensed fixed-odds betting platforms and consent to having their CPF blocked on those platforms—preventing registration, access, transactions, or the placement of bets—for a period of 12 months from the date the renegotiation agreement is signed.

Following the Provisional Measure, the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting of the Ministry of Finance (SPA/MF) published SPA/MF Ordinance No. 1,237/26, amending the text of SPA/MF Ordinance No. 1,231/24 to include Novo Desenrola Brasil beneficiaries among those prohibited from placing bets.

To implement this prohibition, SPA/MF also issued Normative Instruction No. 3/26, which sets out the procedures that fixed-odds betting operators must follow.

Operational Procedures

The Normative Instruction requires betting operators to query the Betting Management System (SIGAP) in accordance with the rules in the Módulo de Impedidos (Restricted Individuals Module) Manual to verify whether a user appears in the Novo Desenrola Brasil beneficiary database.

As with the existing queries for self-excluded individuals and beneficiaries of social programs (such as Bolsa Família, Brazil’s federal conditional cash-transfer program for low-income families), the check must be performed using the user’s CPF and is mandatory both when a new account is opened and at the user’s first login each day.

If the SIGAP query returns the status “Restricted – Novo Desenrola Brasil Program,” the operator must deny any new registration request. For an already-registered user, the operator must suspend the account within three days. Before suspending the account, the operator must notify the user of the reason for the suspension and allow a two-day window for the user to voluntarily withdraw any remaining funds in the account. If the user does not withdraw the funds to which they are entitled within that period, the operator must return those amounts in accordance with applicable regulations.

A suspended account may be reactivated once the user’s CPF is no longer listed in the SIGAP restricted database, provided there are no other legal impediments.

Next Steps

Operators must complete the following:

• Implementation of the procedures set out in the Normative Instruction:within 10 days of its publication.
• Query of SIGAP to verify individuals already listed as impeded in the database:within 15 days of the date of publication of the Normative Instruction.

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