Brazil Enforces Full Credit Card Ban for Online Gambling as SPA Moves from Guidance to Active Enforcement

Brazil's Gambling Regulator Has Stopped Warning and Started Fining — What It Means for Licensed Operators

Brazil's Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas (SPA) has entered its active enforcement phase following the closure of the transition period for Law 14.790/2023, the legislation that established Brazil's licensed online betting market. The SPA's first enforcement actions and the implementation of a full credit card gambling ban mark a fundamental shift in the operational risk environment for licensed Brazilian operators.

What Happened

The transition period defined by Brazil's Bets law expired on January 1, 2026. Since that date, the SPA has been issuing fines — with the first wave targeting operators whose identity verification and KYC processes do not meet the standards set by Ordinance SPA/MF No. 722. The SPA has explicitly characterised KYC violations not as administrative oversights but as grounds for immediate licence suspension. Brazil has also enforced a complete ban on credit card transactions for online gambling — covering credit cards, overdrafts, and instalment purchase products — making it one of a growing number of regulated markets to restrict credit-funded gambling following the model established by Sweden and the UK's credit card gambling ban of 2020. As of April 2026, Brazil's licensed market comprises 78 operators running 138 brands under federal licences, with the SPA managing ongoing applications and renewals.

Why It Matters

Brazil's enforcement shift is commercially significant because of the market's scale: with 215 million inhabitants, a mobile-first internet culture, and deeply embedded sports betting behaviour, licensed Brazil revenue is projected to be among the top five iGaming markets globally within three years. Operators who entered Brazil in the licensing window of 2024–2025 must now ensure their payments infrastructure, KYC workflows, and responsible gambling tools are compliant with the SPA's enforcement standards — or face fines and licence risk. The credit card ban in particular requires operators to reconfigure payment flows that may have relied on credit products during the transition period.

Industry Context

Brazil's credit card ban mirrors similar measures in Sweden (2019), the UK (2020), and the Netherlands (2023) — reflecting a global regulatory consensus that credit-funded gambling represents a distinct harm risk requiring product-level intervention rather than just messaging. For payment providers and wallet operators active in LatAm markets, Brazil's enforcement posture also sets a precedent: the SPA's willingness to use licence suspension as an enforcement tool signals that Brazil is positioning itself as a regulation-first market rather than a revenue-first framework.