Brazil's Regulated Betting Market: How Foreign Operators Get Licensed (Lei 14.790/2023)

For years Brazil was described as the largest untapped betting market on earth — tens of millions of players wagering through offshore sites that paid it no tax and answered to no regulator. That era is over. Lei 14.790/2023 built a national licensing framework for fixed-odds betting, and since 1 January 2025 only operators authorized by the federal government may take bets or advertise in Brazil. The market is genuinely open to foreign companies — but only to those willing to incorporate locally, take on a Brazilian shareholder, pay a substantial licence fee, and build a real compliance operation.

This briefing explains, in plain terms, how a foreign betting or iGaming operator gets licensed in Brazil: what the law covers, who regulates it, what the licence costs and how long it lasts, the local-company and local-shareholder requirements, the tax burden on gaming revenue, and the practical timeline for entry. It is written for the operator or investor deciding whether Brazil is worth the build — and what that build actually involves.

What Lei 14.790/2023 legalized

Lei 14.790/2023 created the legal framework for fixed-odds betting — in Portuguese, apostas de quota fixa — across Brazil. Crucially, the term is broad: it covers sports betting and online casino / iGaming alike, not just wagers on football matches. That single statute is the foundation of the regulated market, and it applies nationwide rather than state by state.

The regulator is the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas, SPA, sometimes referenced through its predecessor Secap), housed inside the Ministry of Finance (Ministério da Fazenda). The SPA authorizes operators, issues the technical and compliance rules, and drives enforcement. There is no separate gaming commission and no municipal licensing layer for this activity — authorization is federal, and it is the SPA's to grant or refuse.

The line that changed everything: 1 January 2025

The regulatory switch flipped on 1 January 2025. From that date, only operators authorized by the SPA may operate or advertise in Brazil. Unlicensed sites are treated as illegal and are being blocked and enforced against — the grey market that Brazil tolerated for years is now the target of active suppression, not benign neglect.

The response from the industry was substantial. By mid-2026, roughly 87 operators held licences, with further applications pending in the queue. That is the one market-size figure to hold onto; the point it makes is simple, that this is not a token opening but a functioning, populated market that the major international brands have already entered through the front door.

Brazil did not merely legalize betting — it drew a hard line, and everything on the wrong side of it is now being switched off.

The licence: national, five-year, and expensive

The authorization the SPA grants is a federal licence valid across all of Brazil — you do not license state by state. It is granted for a fixed term of five years, after which it must be renewed. And it is not cheap: the fee is R$30 million (broadly US$5–6 million, though you should confirm the current exchange rate). That fee is the headline cost of entry and, by design, it screens out undercapitalized operators.

One licence is not confined to a single website. A single authorization can cover up to a set number of brands or domains — commonly three. That matters for operators who run multiple brands or want a sportsbook and a casino product under separate consumer-facing names; the structure can, within limits, sit under one licence rather than requiring a fresh R$30 million fee per brand.

Foreign operators are welcome — but must localize

This is the part foreign operators most need to understand: you are eligible, but you cannot serve Brazil from an offshore entity. The law requires you to build a Brazilian presence, and it is specific about the shape of that presence.

• You must incorporate a Brazilian company, with its own CNPJ (the corporate tax ID), headquartered in Brazil.
• A Brazilian partner or shareholder must hold at least 20% of that local entity. The foreign operator cannot own 100% of the licensed vehicle.
• The platform must pass technical certification — the betting system itself is tested and approved, not merely the paperwork.
• You must run responsible-gambling controls and AML/KYC (anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer) programmes.
• Player funds must be segregated from operating funds.
• Payments must run on local rails — Pix above all; credit cards are barred for funding betting accounts.

The 20% local-shareholder requirement is the structural fact that shapes every foreign entry. It means finding, vetting, and contracting a Brazilian partner — and papering that relationship carefully, because that partner sits inside your licensed entity. Note the contrast with an ordinary Brazilian company, where a foreigner can own 100% of a limitada: betting is a regulated exception, and the local-equity floor is part of the price of the licence.

The tax burden: high, and layered on gaming revenue

Operators are taxed on GGR — gross gaming revenue (broadly, stakes received minus winnings paid). The gaming-specific tax is around 12% of GGR to the government, plus earmarked social contributions directed to areas such as health, sport and sports integrity — and that sits on top of ordinary corporate taxes on the company's profits. Taken together, the effective burden is high, and it should be modelled carefully rather than assumed.

There has also been discussion of a phased, GGR-related schedule for how these charges apply over time. Because the numbers here are exactly the kind that get adjusted by regulation and by subsequent legislation, treat the 12% figure as the anchor and confirm the current rate and the full stack of contributions before you build a financial model on it.

Enforcement is real — and it began in 2026

The framework is not a paper regime. Enforcement waves began in 2026 against operators that failed to complete full licensing or fell short on compliance. That cuts two ways for a serious entrant: it removes unlicensed competitors who never intended to pay the fee or build the controls, and it signals that a half-finished application is not a safe place to sit. Operating in the visible Brazilian market while your certification and compliance build are incomplete is exposure, not a soft launch.

The practical lesson is that licensing and compliance are a single continuous project, not a filing followed by a grace period. The SPA is authorizing operators and, in the same period, acting against those who are not properly authorized.

What entry actually takes — plan for 6 to 12 months

Put the pieces together and a realistic foreign entry involves five parallel workstreams, most of which have to be substantially complete before you can operate.

1. Stand up the Brazilian entity

   Incorporate the local company and obtain its CNPJ, headquartered in Brazil. This is the vehicle that holds the licence and receives the funds.

2. Bring in the 20% local shareholder

   Identify, vet and contract a Brazilian partner for the minimum 20% stake, with a shareholders' agreement that governs rights, decisions and exit.

3. Fund and pay the R$30m fee

   Capitalize the entity and pay the licence fee. Foreign capital coming in should be brought and registered through the proper foreign-exchange channel.

4. Certify the platform

   Submit the betting system for technical certification, and stand up responsible-gambling, AML/KYC, player-fund segregation and Pix-based payments.

5. Complete the compliance build and authorization

   Finish the SPA authorization and the surrounding compliance programme before operating or advertising — not after going live.

Across those workstreams, a sensible expectation is six to twelve months from decision to authorized operation, depending on how quickly the local partner and certification pieces come together. The betting-specific requirements sit on top of ordinary company formation, so pairing corporate counsel with the licensing work from the start saves time. Our Brazil business law practice and business services exist precisely for this kind of regulated market entry.

How this connects to your wider Brazil footprint

A betting operator entering Brazil rarely touches only gaming law. The same entity that holds the licence needs a registered trademark so a competitor cannot claim your brand in a first-to-file country — see our briefing on bringing your brand to Brazil. It will process large volumes of player personal data, which brings the LGPD and the new cross-border transfer rules squarely into scope — see LGPD and cross-border data. And the underlying company formation, foreign-capital registration and tax structuring are the ordinary spine of any foreign investment into Brazil. The licence is the headline; the surrounding legal build is what makes it durable.

How Brazil Legal Shield can help

We advise foreign betting and iGaming operators on the full Brazilian entry: forming and structuring the local licensed entity, negotiating and papering the mandatory 20% Brazilian-shareholder relationship, coordinating the foreign-capital inflow and the R$30 million fee, and aligning the corporate, tax, trademark and data-protection work around the SPA authorization. We work in English, quote in writing, and keep the primary law in front of you so you can see exactly what each requirement rests on. If you are weighing Brazil as a market, get in touch for a clear, scoped assessment of what your entry would involve.