Brazil’s Ministry of Finance moved on January 15, 2026 to clarify the rules of the country’s new centralised betting self-exclusion system after bookmakers raised concerns about possible abuse during the short window before a ban becomes effective.
At the centre of the debate is the Centralised Self-Exclusion Platform, overseen by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA). The government says the tool allows a citizen to block themselves across all authorised operators in a single action, using verified identity access through Gov.br. Users can choose exclusion for one to 12 months or an indefinite period, with restrictions on reversing fixed-term exclusions.
The headline number is speed and scale: the SPA reported 153,000 self-exclusion requests in the first 20 days of operation, a figure that underscores both demand for responsible-gambling controls and the operational pressure placed on platforms and operators.
Industry complaints focused on the system’s implementation timeline. According to SPA secretary Regis Dudena, operators have up to 72 hours to apply the block once they receive the exclusion signal. Some companies alleged that a minority of users could place bets during that window and later seek refunds by claiming they should have been blocked. The Ministry’s response was direct: wagers made before the exclusion takes effect are considered valid, and the block becomes total once it is implemented within the 72-hour limit.
Crucially, the government said it had no formal fraud reports registered in its monitoring environment at the time of the clarification, framing the controversy as a rules-and-expectations issue rather than a confirmed wave of wrongdoing.
The episode highlights a broader truth about newly regulated markets: consumer-protection tools can be “stress-tested” immediately after launch. Brazil’s challenge now is to keep self-exclusion fast, enforceable and trusted—without opening loopholes that undermine operators or the policy’s public-health purpose.
