New Brazil Gambling Licenses Issued, Crypto Payments Still Banned

The newly regulated Brazil online market has continued to expand, with eight more companies receiving full Brazilian licenses this week.

The country’s regulator, the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA), has released the third batch of full licenses after 14 received the green light on 1 January 2025 and 21 subsequently on 11 February 2025.

There is currently no positive news for crypto sportsbooks in the country, as the country prohibits its operators from accepting and processing payments using digital currencies.

The Official Gazette of the Union of Brazil published the latest 18 brands to receive full authorization in Brazil, bringing the total number of licensees to 43 and brands to 191.

The corporations and brands that join the ever-growing list of Brazilian licensees are:

• F12 Do Brasil Jogos Eletronicas LTDA, offering brands F12.Bet, Luva.Bet and Brasilbet.
• EB Intermediacoes e Jogos S.A. as EstrelaBet.
• Hiper Bet Tecnologia LTDA as Hiper Bet.
• Ana Gaming Brasil S.A., as brands Bet7K, CassinoPix, and Bet Vera.
• Upbet Brasil LTDA trading as UpBetBR, 9D, and WJCasino.
• Logame Do Brasil LTDA operating brands LiderBet, GeralBet and B2XBet
• SevenX Gaming LTDA, which will operate BullsBet and Jogao
• Bet.Bet Solucoes Tecnologicas S.A., operating Bet.Bet and DonaldBet.

Seven of the eight new licensees were upgraded from provisional licenses obtained before legalization at the tail end of last year. Hiper Bet Tecnologia LTDA was the only company without a provisional license.

Latin America and Crypto: Opportunity?

In wider gambling regulation, biometrics have been a topic of discussion surrounding Brazil’s know-your-customer policy. Earlier this year, the Brazilian National Data Protection Authority ordered Tools for Humanity to stop providing services to Brazilians from 25 January 2025.

The reason provided was that the crypto compensation offered “could compromise the validity of user consent” when collecting sensitive biometric data.

Despite recent enforcement, the Latin America region is an exciting prospect for cryptocurrency expansion. In Argentina, Mercado Libre, the largest publicly traded firm in the region, holds over 1,300 Bitcoin in assets.

Furthermore, Javier Milei, the President of Argentina, is known as being pro-Bitcoin and has implemented a deregulation agenda since he came into power last year. The President has helped encourage wider crypto adoption and transactions in a variety of digital currencies.