A report released by the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) shows the agency’s actions against illegal bets in Brazil. Since January 2025, the SPA has already blocked more than 66,482 unlicensed domains offering bets.
The document was released by the department under the Access to Information Law to the iGaming Brazil portal, with data up to September 2.
In addition, the SPA has also already applied a total of R$18 million in fines, including penalties for non-compliance with responsible gaming rules and improper advertising.
Profiles and apps taken down
In addition to illegal betting sites without the bet.br domain, the SPA also took down, between 2025 and 2026, 1,511 profiles and 574 betting apps that were unauthorized or related to the predictive market.
The blocking process is carried out in a chain, with the SPA itself responsible for identifying the sites.
Once identified, the SPA orders the block, and the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) passes the order on to providers.
About 17,000 providers receive the notification and take down the illegal sites. Many continue to exist abroad, but access via Brazilian networks is prohibited.
However, the system has flaws. At a hearing before the Science, Technology and Innovation Committee of the Chamber of Deputies on December 10, 2025, Anatel pointed out the limitations of the illegal bets blocking process.
The first point concerns the limitation due to the existence of numerous providers, including small ones, and their adherence to the blocking mechanisms.
Another difficulty is the use of VPNs by users, which makes blocking more complex for providers.
In many cases, illegal operators recreate their platforms with new addresses, which also hinders the process carried out by the SPA and Anatel.
Investigation and punishment
In addition to acting against illegal bets, the SPA investigates and punishes licensed operators that do not follow the rules set out by betting regulations.
This occurs through an administrative sanctioning process (PAS). The procedure is defined by ordinance 1,233/2024 and establishes steps such as notification, defense and appeal, as well as deadlines.
According to information from the SPA, since 2025, 103 cases have been sent to the Sanctioning Action Subsecretariat, which is part of the agency.
So far, 68 have been judged, while 31 are under review, two have gone to court, and another two are in negotiation for the formalization of a commitment term.
Considering the administrative proceedings judged, 20 fines were applied and one combined with suspension of operations. Pixbet, for example, was one of the operators suspended this year.
In total, the fines add up to R$18,019,247.20. The secretariat also reported that of this amount, R$3,091,038.00 has been collected, while another R$1,420,601.99 was registered as Federal Active Debt. Additionally, R$600,000 is suspended by court decision.
The report also provides information on administrative sanctioning proceedings. According to the SPA’s General Coordination of Sanctioning Action, 80 cases from the Periodic Overview/2025 corresponded to the total number of cases sent to the Sanctioning Action Subsecretariat for judgment.