Brazil government deepens gambling site blocking cooperation

Brazil’s finance ministry and telecommunications agency agreed a new pact to speed up the blocking of unlicensed gambling sites on Monday (9 December).

The Prizes and Betting Department at the Ministry of Finance (SPA) and the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) formalised a Technical Cooperation Agreement earlier in the week.

The deal aims to speed up and optimise the blocking of unlicensed gambling websites operating without a licence just weeks ahead of the launch of the regulated market on 1 January.

SPA secretary Regis Dudena said: “Anatel has already been a very important partner, since we intensified the fight against illegality.

“Now, with [the agreement], this relationship will be even more fluid and efficient, which is a gain for the country in the challenge of ridding the betting sector of the presence of opportunistic and malicious groups.”

The measure’s main focus is to create a fast and direct flow of information between the institutions, with the aim of reducing operational costs and strengthening overall oversight.

Since the blocking programme began on 11 October, more than 5,200 unlicensed sites have been taken offline.

New work plan to be create in blocking pact

One of the first tasks in the agreement will be the preparation of a detailed work plan, which will detail operational procedures and set-out the communications flows to be adopted.

This plan, the ministry said, will serve as the basis for improving all current blocking activities and ensure greater efficiency in joint actions.

The blocking process currently involves the SPA identifying and cataloguing unapproved sites before determining if they should be blocked based on administrative analysis.

These decisions are then sent to Anatel, which acts as a regulator and technical intermediary and also ensures the orders are passed onto the internet service providers for execution.

The process is fully online and makes use of the federal government’s own systems.

Anatel President Carlos Baigorri added: “The agreement will allow for an agile flow for processing the blockings.

“We know that it is a challenging task to prevent Brazilians from accessing illegal gambling sites and, precisely for this reason, cooperation is essential so that the blockings are carried out in the shortest possible time by telecommunications service providers.

“We have the duty, as a state body, to combat illicit practices that cause competitive imbalances and disrespect our legislation.”

The announcement follows the ministry’s decision to create a working group to address the health impact of gambling.

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