SPA fines Pixbet $156,885. Brazil's Secretariat of Prizes and Bets has fined Pixbet BR814,567.44 ($156,885) after the operator couldn't be located at its registered address, giving the company 10 days to pay or appeal. Key Points SPA published a citation notice fining Pixbet BR814,567.4 Pixbet has 10 days from publication to pay the fine or file an appeal via Brazil's electronic filing system Brazil's Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) has published a citation notice in the Federal Official Gazette announcing a fine of BR814,567.44 against Pixbet. The notice states the company could not be located at the address registered with the SPA's Sanctioning Action Subsecretariat (SAS). The penalty is based on article 41, item III of Law 14,790/2023. The amount must be paid into Brazil's National Treasury Single Account through the PagTesouro portal, using the SPA's revenue collection details. Pixbet has 10 days from the notice's publication to pay the fine or file an appeal, with either the appeal or proof of payment submitted electronically through Brazil's Electronic Information System. If the company neither appeals nor pays within the deadline, the debt will be registered as Federal Active Debt, a formal designation that allows the Federal Government to pursue collection through legal enforcement, including asset seizure. Recently, Pixbet has faced a string of separate regulatory actions, including an order to suspend its betting platforms nationwide after a court found its age verification systems failed to adequately prevent minors from accessing its services. The SPA separately fined Blaze BR2.3m ($451,000) over advertising material featuring children and adolescents and targeting audiences under 18. Separately, Brazil's Government expects its new Selective Tax to generate BR41.9bn in 2027, with betting set to become one of the activities subject to the levy once it takes effect next year. Good to know Pixbet was also among the 14 sites suspended by SPA for failing to comply with responsible gambling and reporting requirements Reaction Board

Virginia Fonseca ends partnership with Blaze after action by the MPDFT (Public Prosecutor's Office of the Federal District). Bets I 21.08.26 By: Magno José VF Digital announced the termination of its commercial relationship with the betting platform this Friday (21), after a lawsuit questioned abusive advertising. VF Digital, the agency of influencer Virginia Fonseca, has ended its commercial partnership with the betting platform Blaze. The announcement was made this Friday (August 21st) and comes after the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Federal District and Territories (MPDFT) filed a lawsuit against the influencer and the company. According to G1, the public civil action filed by the MPDFT (Public Prosecutor's Office of the Federal District) questions practices related to the advertising of betting sites disseminated by Virginia on her social media. The case is still ongoing in court. In a statement, VF Digital confirmed the termination of the partnership: "VF Digital announces the end of Virginia Fonseca's commercial partnership with Blaze. The decision was formalized in accordance with the terms applicable to the contractual relationship, concluding this cycle in a regular manner." Action by the Public Prosecutor's Office The MPDFT (Public Prosecutor's Office of the Federal District) filed the lawsuit in July. In the action, the agency points to possible abusive practices in the way content related to betting was presented to the influencer's followers. Virginia's press office and legal team were contacted for comment regarding the termination of the partnership, but had not responded by the time of the last update to this report.

Brazil's Ministry of Finance fines 73 online betting companies, totaling R$ 11 million. By: Magno Jose The Ministry of Finance has opened more than one hundred administrative proceedings against online betting companies since 2025, when the regulated betting market began operating in Brazil. The infractions affected 73 of the 85 companies authorized to operate, according to data obtained through the Access to Information Law in June and revealed by Folha de S.Paulo. The sanctions resulted from approximately 200 tax audits. Of the penalties already concluded, 39 cases have reached a final judgment: 32 ended in warnings and 7 in fines. The total amount of penalties applied by the Ministry of Finance is almost R$ 11 million. Fines below the legal potential. The disproportion between the penalties applied and the legal limit is significant. The maximum limit stipulated by law reaches R$ 2 billion per infraction, with sanctions ranging from 0,1% to 20% of the company's revenue. In cases where a fine was imposed, the figure was below 0,5% of the target's revenue. Blaze received its most recent penalty; on Monday (July 27th), the company was fined for advertising with minors. The R$ 2,3 million fine represented 0,2% of Foggo Entertainment's R$ 1,1 billion revenue, the brand's operator in Brazil, after deducting taxes, social contributions, and bonus costs. In addition to this case, ten more fines are still awaiting the outcome of appeals. Blaze was an exception in receiving a financial penalty despite being a first-time offender. The seriousness of the case, involving the rights of children and adolescents, motivated the punishment, according to the assessment of the acting Undersecretary for Sanctioning Action, Vanessa Meireles Barreto. Foggo Entertainment stated that it does not comment on ongoing legal proceedings. Why do warnings predominate? The high number of warnings is explained by the regulatory structure. Because the sector is recent, most companies benefit from the mitigating factor of being a first-time offender. In administrative terms, a company is only considered a repeat offender if it commits the same infraction again for which it has already been punished, a principle known as "bis in idem," according to lawyer André Santa Ritta, partner at the Pinheiro Neto law firm. For first-time offenders, the rule is a warning, except when the infraction is extremely serious. Current and former employees of the Prizes and Betting Secretariat (SPA), speaking on condition of anonymity, point to this mechanism as a possible explanation for the volume of warnings. A single company can accumulate ten different infractions and have its clean record considered in its favor in each one. The most severe sanction foreseen, the revocation of the license, has never been applied. The ordinance that regulates administrative processes against betting companies provides for this punishment, which implies the loss of an authorization costing R$ 30 million. The only case of suspension, against Pixbet, was revoked after the company regularized its registration on the Consumidor.gov.br platform. Legal disputes and anticipated changes Administrative processes have also migrated to the Judiciary. Pixbet obtained an injunction in the Federal Court in Brasília to suspend the effects of an act by the SPA (Sociedade de Apoio ao Investimento - Investment Support Service) that had blocked its operating authorization due to non-compliance with the deadline for submitting documents. The defense, represented by lawyer Nelson Wilians, alleged a lack of clarity in the rules regarding the starting point for counting the 90-day period. The Federal Court considered the sanction disproportionate and allowed the site to operate. USP administrative law professor Fernando Menezes emphasizes that the procedural rules are determined by Law No. 9.784 of 1999. "The legislation does not exclude regulatory agencies from having special laws, with their own procedural dynamics, that prevail over the general law," states Menezes. The appeals stage can extend up to 150 days, according to the general law of federal administrative procedures. According to Luã Cruz, director of the digital rights organization Ctrl+Z, taking the risk of committing minor infractions to preserve revenue is a recurring calculation in regulated markets. "The financial and telecommunications sectors, for example, are repeatedly condemned for improper charges, tied selling, and unsolicited fees," says Cruz. The Treasury Department reported that improvements to monitoring and sanctioning procedures are planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. Among the department's priorities is "establishing means for repairing damages caused to bettors."