Flutter closes Betfair in Brazil and keeps only Betnacional

Flutter is closing its Betfair brand in Brazil and cutting jobs at its Brazilian business. In a statement to the trade site NEXT.io, Flutter Brazil said it "has decided to focus its activities on a single brand, Betnacional, which will result in the closure of Betfair's operations in the country".

The company named the cause directly. Provisional Measure (Medida Provisória, MP) 1.394/2026, it said, "profoundly altered the conditions under which Flutter Brazil operates, interrupting its commercial activities and revenue in the country". It is reducing its workforce "across different areas of the business" to keep "an agile operational structure, ready to respond as soon as there is clarity on how the MP develops". Flutter did not say how many people are affected.

What changes, and what does not

MP 1.394 is the temporary measure President Lula signed on 25 September that bans fixed-odds betting and online casinos across Brazil, including their advertising. Licensed sites went offline on 6 October, and the measure needs Congress to approve it within 120 days to become law. Our report on the 97 amendments filed in Congress covers where that stands.

Flutter stopped taking bets in Brazil straight after the ban. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 28 September, it said it had ceased sports betting and iGaming in the country and would expect to restart "should Congress reject this measure".

The decision to close Betfair changes what a restart would look like. Until now Flutter ran two Brazilian brands: Betnacional, the local brand it took over when it bought a controlling stake in NSX Group, and Betfair. If the market reopens, the plan is to put resources into Betnacional only. Betnacional is not operating either while the ban is in force.

The statement covers Brazil only. It does not mention Betfair in any other market.

The numbers behind the decision

Flutter's own figures show what Brazil was worth before the ban. In the September filing it said that a full shutdown for the rest of 2026 would cut this year's revenue by about USD 70 million and adjusted EBITDA by about USD 20 million. It also said it was assessing the "non-cash accounting implications". At the end of June, the Brazilian business was carried on Flutter's books with USD 539 million of goodwill and USD 124 million of trademarks, among other assets. Flutter has not said whether closing Betfair Brazil affects those values. It is due to release its third-quarter update on 4 November.

NEXT.io reports that Brazil brought in USD 72 million of revenue for Flutter in the second quarter alone, that Flutter paid about USD 350 million for its 56% stake in NSX, and that Betfair Brazil and Betnacional staff had posted about job losses on LinkedIn by 22 October, across casino, customer operations, content and commercial roles. Those posts came before Flutter's statement and are not company figures.

Flutter is not alone. The betting association ANJL estimated on 8 October that at least 3,500 direct jobs had already been cut across the sector since the measure was published, with another 4,167 staff placed on collective leave, O Globo reported. The ANJL and the IBJR have also asked the Supreme Court to suspend the measure.

The Brazilian cut lands days after Flutter put up to 1,400 UK and Ireland roles at risk after the UK gaming tax rise. The group is now cutting jobs in two markets at once, for different reasons: a tax increase in one, an outright ban in the other.

If you had a Betfair account in Brazil

Betfair as a Brazilian betting brand is not planned to return, even if Congress rejects the measure. Flutter has said nothing specific about money left in Betfair Brazil accounts. How the government said balances at licensed sites would be returned after the ban is explained in our report on Brasil sem Bets and balance refunds. Be careful with anything that promises to speed that up: we recently reported on a fake Brasil sem Bets refund site that asked for a Pix payment.

Flutter says it still supports "a regulated and supervised market as the most effective way to protect consumers". For the wider background to the ban, see Brazil's move to ban online casinos.