The Brazilian gambling regulator, SPA, has requested the national telecoms agency, Anatel, to block 1,800 domains allegedly offering online gambling without a federal license.
This marks the third such request since September, bringing the total number of sites targeted for blocking to 5,200.
Brazil’s regulated online gambling market is set to launch on January 1. In the interim, grey market operators may continue operating if they applied for a license by the October 1 deadline. Those who missed the deadline are no longer permitted to offer gambling services in the country.
Anatel stated it has issued blocking orders but acknowledged its limited authority to enforce immediate compliance by internet service providers. The agency’s president, Carlos Baigorri, noted that gambling platforms often bypass restrictions by altering their infrastructure or switching to unregulated IP domains.
Baigorri explained:
We receive the list of domains from the Ministry of Finance and block them all. The Ministry then monitors to identify if the domain changes or the site moves to a new address.
Meanwhile, the SPA has begun notifying operators who have qualified for Brazilian online gambling licenses. These operators have 30 days to finalize the licensing process, which includes paying the R$30 million (€5m) fee and completing platform certification. The full list of approved operators will be published by the end of December, just ahead of the market launch.
