The Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) has published a new ordinance with the aim of temporarily resolving delays to betting certifications in Brazil.
Brazil launched its legal betting market on 1 January, with 14 companies receiving full licences to operate, while another 52 received provisional authorisation ahead of the go-live date.
Provisional licences in Brazil were granted to betting operators that had paid the BRL30 million (£3.9 million/€4.7 million/$4.8 million) licence fee but were facing issues with their applications, such as delays to certification.
The provisional licences allow the companies in question to operate as normal for 30 days while their applications are completed. However, that period can be extended by another 30 days if the testing laboratories clarify that more time is needed to carry out full certification for a business.
Only the 113 companies that applied before the initial 20 August deadline were eligible to be among the first licensees in Brazil. The huge level of interest, combined with intense requirements for the certification of betting systems, has overloaded laboratories.
In response, the SPA published Normative Instruction No 3/2025 in the Official Gazette of the Union on Tuesday (14 January), hoping to alleviate the pressure on the six certifying entities, which include eCOGRA and Gaming Laboratories International (GLI).
The aim of the instruction is to standardise the process for certification in Brazil, thus speeding up their undertaking and helping betting companies meet the initial 30-day deadline of 30 January.
What do betting operators need to send to the SPA in Brazil?
Normative Instruction No 3/2025 establishes a cover page model and index for technical certificates.
By 30 January, operators must submit to the SPA through the Betting Management System (Sigap) documents such as technical certificates for betting systems, sports betting servers or remote game servers, as well as a single online gaming certificate.
Operators only wishing to offer igaming are not required to submit certifications for sportsbook servers and integrations. The reverse is true for operators exclusively offering sports betting.
All documents must be in Brazilian Portuguese, with the name of the documents clarifying aspects such as the platform’s name.
Provisionally licensed operators must also submit the General Index Document, with the instruction including the form that companies must fill out.
If the certification isn’t completed by 30 January, operators with provisional authorisation must submit both the General Index Document and a request for extension of the deadline, accompanied by a declaration from the certifying entity.
By 1 February, provisionally licensed companies offering online games must also submit certifications for those games and live studios with the Online Games Index Document, with the instruction again including an example of the document.
Additionally, Normative Instruction No 3/2025 clarified that operators with full licences must send the General Index Document and the Online Games Index Document. They must also send new versions of those documents on a monthly basis, except if there is no update to certifications.
Licensing challenges in Brazil
Brazil’s journey to legal betting has included plenty of ups and downs, and even the licensing process hasn’t been straightforward.
Andreas Bardun, founder and CEO of the fully authorised KTO, told iGB of issues relating to communication with the SPA and the application portal.
“I’ll tell you that it was actually very stressful and there are many reasons for that,” Bardun says of the application process. “The regulator was also new in doing this, so they kind of moved the goalposts. Every time we thought we were ready and had done everything [required], they were asking for more documents or new requirements at the last minute that made us scramble.”
However, Bardun has sympathy with the SPA, adding: “It was very stressful, I would say. It wasn’t the most organised licensing process.
“But I do have some understanding because this is something completely new for the Brazilian government. And to be fair to them, they were working all Christmas and New Year’s Eve to help all the operators.”
The industry sees the teething problems as a learning process for the regulator. Thomas Carvalhaes, newly appointed Brazil country manager for the provisionally licensed Stake, saying the sector itself must work to inform the SPA.
“Of course, no regulation and no licensing process has been developed perfectly from the top,” Carvalhaes said. “There hasn’t been one single jurisdiction that has had the process [working seamlessly] and well put together from day zero.
“For governments, remember these guys are not gambling specialists, we are. So it’s very important that operators and associations are able to [use] common sense and find information exchanging [opportunities] to educate the government.”
