Brazil limits R$5m betting reserve to player refunds

Brazil's Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas, SPA) has published the rules for the R$5 million financial reserve that each authorised betting operator had to hold. Under Instrução Normativa SPA/MF nº 32, an operator that cannot cover what it owes players may ask to use the reserve, and the money can go only to repaying those players. The payments run through Caixa Econômica Federal, the state-owned bank.

The instruction is dated 6 November 2026 and appeared in an extra edition of the Diário Oficial da União on 10 November (edition 211-A, section 1, page 16). It is signed by the secretary, Daniele Correa Cardoso, and took effect on publication. It applies to operators covered by Medida Provisória 1.394, the provisional measure of 25 September 2026 that banned fixed-odds betting in Brazil.

The reserve itself is older. It comes from article 9 of Portaria Normativa SPA/MF nº 615 of 16 April 2024. The government's own summary puts it at R$5 million per company. Instruction 32 does not repeat the figure.

How an operator gets access

Only the operator can apply. Article 4 says an operator that still owes players money after taking the steps in article 8 of the provisional measure may request authorisation to use the reserve.

The request needs a standard form (Annex I) and a declaration signed by the company's directors (Annex II). The operator sends the bank that holds the reserve an individual list of the players to be paid, and the amount requested has to equal the sum owed to the players on that list.

The SPA then compares the request with what banks and payment institutions reported through its betting management system, Sigap, about amounts they could not return because the operator's accounts ran short. If the figures differ, the operator has to explain why.

If the SPA approves, the authorisation is limited to the amount needed. The custodian bank sells the assets and transfers the money to the account named by Caixa, where article 3 says it stays "vinculados exclusivamente à restituição dos valores devidos aos apostadores" (tied exclusively to returning the amounts owed to bettors; our translation).

What the reserve cannot pay

Article 2 rules out every other use. The reserve cannot pay operating, administrative, labour, tax or corporate costs, "or any other obligations of the operator itself, including those related to closing down its activities" (our translation).

The same article says approval is not a finding that the operator managed the money in its transactional accounts in line with article 4 of Portaria 615. An operator that needs the reserve to repay players can still be investigated for how those accounts were run.

Moving the reserve without prior SPA authorisation stays prohibited. False, inexact or omitted information exposes those responsible to administrative, civil and criminal penalties (article 15).

Getting the reserve back

An operator with no known debts to players can ask for the reserve to be released once the refund procedures in articles 7 to 9 of the provisional measure are finished.

That request needs audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 and for the position at 31 October 2026 or later, from an independent auditor registered with the securities regulator CVM, plus a special assurance report from the auditor and a directors' declaration. The SPA releases the money only if the papers are complete and nothing indicates that player debts remain.

What the instruction does not say

The text sets no deadline: not for the SPA to decide on a request, not for the transfer to Caixa, and not for Caixa to pay players. It does not describe how or when an individual player is paid, beyond pointing to the refund procedure in article 9, paragraph 3 of the provisional measure.

It gives no total owed to players and does not say how many operators lack the funds to repay them. The government's summary of 11 November gives neither figure.

What this means for players

There is nothing for a player to file under this instruction. Applications come from operators, and repayments run through Caixa under the provisional measure. We covered that process in how balance refunds work after the ban.

Be careful with anyone offering to "release" a refund for a fee. We reported earlier on a fake refund site that asked for a Pix payment.

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Updates

• 12 Nov 2026: first published.

Sources

• Diário Oficial da União: Instrução Normativa SPA/MF nº 32, de 6 de novembro de 2026 (primary; published 10 November 2026, edition 211-A, section 1 extra A, page 16; in Portuguese)
• Agência Gov, via Ministério da Fazenda: Governo regulamenta fundo para bets devolverem sobras de dinheiro não apostado (government summary, 11 November 2026; source for the R$5 million figure; in Portuguese)
• Diário Oficial da União: Medida Provisória nº 1.394, de 25 de setembro de 2026 (primary; in Portuguese)
• BNLData: Fazenda define regras para usar e liberar a reserva de R$ 5 milhões das bets após a MP 1.394 (trade press; in Portuguese)