Brazil Refers 16,627 Gambling Sites for Blocking After Market Ban

Brazilian authorities referred 16,627 gambling and betting websites for blocking between September 25 and October 9 as enforcement of the country's new online gambling prohibition accelerated.

The domains were identified by the Cyber Operations Laboratory of the National Secretariat of Public Security in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance's Secretariat of Prizes and Betting.

The enforcement campaign follows Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026, which prohibited the operation, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting and online casino products in Brazil.

Previously authorised betting sites and apps were required to become unavailable from October 6.

Authorities Target Thousands of Social Media Accounts

Enforcement has extended beyond gambling websites to the channels used to promote them.

Authorities requested the removal of 3,691 pages, profiles, groups, channels and servers across major social and messaging platforms.

Facebook accounted for 1,974 pages, while Instagram accounted for 560 profiles.

Telegram represented one of the largest areas of concern. Authorities identified 1,027 groups and channels with approximately 18.46 million members.

The enforcement list also included 115 TikTok profiles with around 459,000 followers, 14 WhatsApp groups and one Discord server.

Government data put the combined audience associated with the identified gambling-related content at approximately 18.9 million users, members and followers. These figures can include duplication because individual users may belong to multiple groups or follow several accounts.

The 16,627 figure also refers to websites and domains rather than unique gambling operators. A single operator can control multiple addresses or mirror sites.

Around R$159M Still Awaiting Refund

Brazil is simultaneously completing the process of returning player balances left with previously licensed operators.

More than R$1 billion had already been returned by October 10, according to figures provided by operators to the federal government.

Approximately R$159 million, around $29 million, remained to be refunded through financial institutions.

Players had until October 5 to withdraw balances directly from betting platforms. Banks were then tasked with returning remaining funds through October 14 using account information provided by operators.

The latest government data cover approximately 22.5 million bettors across 70.5 million accounts.

Most outstanding balances are extremely small. Around 90% of accounts have less than R$1 remaining, while 97% hold less than R$10.

Eight Operators Face Legal Action Over Missing Data

Eight betting companies had still not provided banks with the information required to process remaining refunds.

The government has not publicly disclosed their names.

Brazil's Attorney General's Office plans to take legal action to compel the companies to provide the necessary account and balance information.

Where banks cannot complete a refund, Caixa Econômica Federal is expected to take responsibility for the remaining payment process.

The combination of domain blocking, social media removals and mandatory player refunds shows that enforcement has moved beyond simply taking previously authorised websites offline.

Authorities are now attempting to suppress replacement access points and promotional channels while completing the financial wind-down of the former regulated market.