Brazil's Attorney General's Office is considering legal action against Polymarket for illegal election betting.

Brazil's Attorney General's Office (AGU) has begun studying the situation of the American platform Polymarket due to its potential role in the dissemination and operation of bets related to the Brazilian elections. The possibility of formal legal action against the company has not been ruled out.

According to information obtained by JOTA , the Attorney General's Office (AGU) is awaiting information from the Ministry of Finance to, according to the agency's press office, "evaluate any appropriate measures." The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) have already received complaints about the case. The TSE shared the material with the AGU, and both the legal department and Anatel remain in contact with the Ministry of Finance.

Access to Polymarket in Brazil was blocked just over five months ago. The decision came from the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting of the Ministry of Finance (SPA-MF), which concluded that only the regulated betting segment, such as sporting events, is permitted in the country. Operations of platforms in the so-called prediction market, in which users bet against other users on the occurrence of future events, were prohibited without restriction. At the time, more than 20 sites were blocked.

Partial access and dissemination on networks

Even with the block in place, Polymarket continued to host bets on the outcome of the Brazilian elections from servers abroad. There are reports that the site can be accessed by users who use VPNs, a tool that creates a private network and bypasses the identification of the user's location. JOTA's reporting found that the site is accessible in more basic configurations in some states, allowing the visualization of percentages in certain scenarios, but without access to the betting mechanism; the platform's app can also be opened, although without betting functionality.

Another fact that caught the attention of the authorities was the publication, on a Portuguese-language Polymarket profile on social media, of content promoting not only the platform, but also the lead of candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) among bettors, as reported by the news outlet Núcleo.

What does the Attorney General's Office want from the Treasury?

To support any potential action, the Attorney General's Office (AGU) requested factual and legal information from the Ministry of Finance regarding the case. The agency wants access to any ongoing or completed audits or sanctions against Polymarket and its partners, as well as administrative orders for notification, suspension, or blocking already requested from Anatel (the Brazilian telecommunications regulatory agency) or directly from the platform. The Ministry of Finance, through the SPA-MF (Special Secretariat for the Ministry of Finance), is responsible for regulating, monitoring, and overseeing the sector.

The Ministry of Finance, in turn, stated that "Polymarket is blocked in Brazil, as are the social networks linked to the platform" and that "the eventual possibility of access to the site by some users does not mean that the company is authorized to operate in the country nor that the blocking measures have ceased to be adopted."

The ministry explained that the blocking order was forwarded to Anatel, which is responsible for notifying more than 20 telecommunications service providers to implement the measure. "Since compliance depends on each provider, an address may be unavailable at different times," the Ministry of Finance informed. The ministry added that "even when the page can still be opened, it is not possible to place bets or make deposits" and that it permanently monitors the effectiveness of the restrictions, "adopting new measures whenever necessary to prevent the irregular offering of bets in the country."

Derivatives and the CMN regulation

Part of the discussion surrounding prediction platforms involved the possibility of classifying them within the derivatives market. To end the controversy, the National Monetary Council (CMN) published a regulation establishing that only derivative contracts whose assets are linked to economic and financial benchmarks are permitted in the country. Among the authorized assets are price indices, interest rates, exchange rates, and commodities, such as the price of a barrel of oil. Election results are not included in the list.

Polymarket's press office had not issued a statement by the time this report was completed.