Betting operator Megapix has been added to the SPA’s list of approved operators after filing a court injunction. There are now 100 operators approved by the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) to do business during the ongoing betting transition period in Brazil.
The SPA released its initial list of operators approved to continue running their sites in Brazil on 1 October and has since updated it multiple times to include operators that have been found to meet the requirements.
Megapix’s addition comes after the operator was granted an injunction by the 4th Court of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region on 16 October to continue operating in Brazil, despite not filing its betting licence application by the SPA’s 30 September deadline.
The court ruled in favour of Megapix, after judge Catta Preta Neto highlighted the SPA had originally set an application deadline of 31 December, before embarking on a crackdown of illegal sites and bringing forward the deadline to September.
He said operators had been working towards the initial deadline before it was changed and therefore granted the operator the ability to continue its activities until 31 December.
Esportes da Sorte, another company left off the list after being embroiled in a money laundering and illegal gambling investigation, was added last week after its own court order was approved.
Sportvip Group’s Esportiva Vip, CB Esportes and Donos da Bola brands were also added to the revised SPA list on 18 October.
The inclusion of Megapix and Sportvip Group takes the tally of approved operators to 100, with 223 brands now considered legal. The SPA has ordered the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to block 2,040 sites that failed to gain approval for the transition period.
Zeroumbet still absent from SPA’s list
One operator that remains off the SPA’s approved list is Zeroumbet, which is involved in the same case as Esportes.
Its owner, lawyer and influencer Deolane Bezerra, was arrested in September over accusations of illegal gambling and money laundering as part of ‘Operation Integration’.
Zeroumbet is one of at least eight other operators that have filed legal cases against the SPA after being left off the approved list.
However, Folha reported Zeroumbet’s preliminary request for an injunction that would allow it to be approved by the SPA has been rejected.
