The Receita Federal (RFB), Brazil’s federal revenue service agency, has reported that the country’s betting market has generated around £510 million through tax income.
That figure from the RFB relates to the first six months of regulated online betting in Brazil, including sports betting and online casino games.
When Did Online Gambling Become Legal In Brazil?
Until the new measures were launched on January 1, 2025, the only game that had been legal in the Brazilian gambling market other than state-sponsored lotteries was poker.
Despite the ban, it was estimated in 2022 that Brazil was leading the way with a 20% share of all global online gambling traffic.
When the regulated sports betting and casino sites were launched in January 2025 there were 14 companies who had been granted full authorisation to operate with a further 52 receiving provisional licenses.
The RFB revealed that: “Activities related to gambling and betting report revenue of R$3.797 billion (around £510million) which was recorded from January to June 2025, compared to just R$14 million (£1.87m) in the same period of 2024, representing growth of 28,018%.”
Will Land-Based Gambling Be Legalised?
It has not happened yet with the Senate postponing its vote on the issue of allowing land-based gambling just ahead of its July recess.
However, this is expected to reappear on the agenda in the coming weeks.
A government survey in April conducted by the DataSenado Research Institute showed that 60% of the Brazilian adult population was in favour of legalising land-based gambling.
What Are The New Compliance Rules In Brazil?
Key among the requirements that have to be adhered to are:
Legal betting operators in Brazil must include “.br” at the end of their betting domains so that it is clear for both the authorities and potential bettors to see which websites are licensed as opposed to unlicensed.
Bettors need to register with facial recognition. This is to ensure betting isn’t available to minors.
Betting with cryptocurrency or credit is not allowed. Money transfers can only be made to and from accounts authorised by the Central Bank of Brazil.
Operators have to pay a taxation rate of 12 per cent of gross gaming revenue (GGR), with other taxes taking the total effective rate to around 36 per cent according to the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL).
There is a 15 per cent tax on any player winnings over BRL2,824 (around £380).
There could be a further hit to the legalised betting companies.
the joint committee of Congress and the Senate is expected to decide whether to hike up the Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) tax on online operators from the present 12% to 18%.
Jim Munro is a betting industry and gambling expert who has been a national newspaper journalist for over 30 years, predominantly at The Sunday Times and The Sun, where he wrote a weekly soccer betting column. Jim also worked on the launch of Virgin Bet with Gamesys and was subsequently head of editorial at LiveScore, the sports media and betting group.
