AMIG: Betting ban affects 10 million women and 10 female workers.
The Association of Women in the Gaming Industry (AMIG) released an open letter on Tuesday (September 15th) in response to public statements advocating for the closure or prohibition of betting companies authorized to operate in Brazil. In the letter, the organization argues that such measures would directly affect approximately 10,000 women working in the sector and more than 10 million women registered as bettors in the regulated market.
AMIG brings together approximately 1.500 members and claims to represent professionals in areas such as technology, compliance , legal, anti-money laundering, responsible gaming, payments, and information security. For the organization, indiscriminate threats to the regulated sector are not merely abstract corporate threats; they affect jobs, income, and the economic autonomy of women who support families and hold leadership positions.
Female bettors in numbers
The data supporting the association's argument comes from official sources. According to the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets of the Ministry of Finance (SPA/MF), women account for 31,70% of active bettors in the regulated Brazilian market. There are 10,1 million female bettors in a universe of 31.821.805 unique active bettors, according to SEI Dispatch No. 64292406 (Process No. 19995.012803/2026-27), with data from the SIGAP system extracted on September 8, 2026.
The letter argues that pushing this demand underground would not eliminate it; it would only remove the protection mechanisms offered by a regulated environment for these consumers: bettor identification, age verification, self-exclusion, risk monitoring, transaction traceability, and data protection. Illegal operators, AMIG argues, do not comply with SPA/MF regulations, do not fulfill responsible gaming obligations, and do not collect the taxes required of authorized companies.
Regulation as protection
The organization differentiates its position from an unrestricted defense of the sector. In the letter, the founders state their support for strong regulation, effective oversight, rigorous combat against illegal gambling, policies for the prevention and treatment of problem gambling, financial education, and responsible advertising. The central argument is that the existence of flaws in regulation requires correction of the rules, not the dismantling of the structure created to address these problems.
“If there are flaws, let them be corrected. If there are rules to improve, let them be improved. If there are illegal operators, let them be combated with the utmost rigor. But the existence of problems does not justify dismantling the very structure created to address them,” the founders stated in the letter.
The association acknowledges the legitimacy of the Public Authorities' concern regarding illegal gambling, indebtedness, and problem gambling, as well as the protection of vulnerable individuals. What it rejects is the use of these concerns to equate authorized companies with clandestine operators, thereby dismantling the regulated market.
Appeal to the authorities
In closing, AMIG addresses the President of the Republic, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Congress directly. The organization requests that the authorities clearly distinguish between those who comply with the law and those who operate outside of it, and that the chosen path be to combat illegality, monitor legality, and continuously improve regulations.
The underlying tension in the document remains unresolved: the public debate about the future of the betting sector in Brazil has yet to define the limits and scope of current regulations. For AMIG, whatever is at stake in this process will have direct consequences for two groups of women: those who work in the sector and those who consume its products.
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Brasilia – DF, September 15, 2026
OPEN LETTER FROM AMIG IN DEFENSE OF WOMEN, LEGALITY AND REGULATION
The Association of Women in the Gaming Industry (AMIG) expresses deep concern and repudiation of public statements advocating the closure or prohibition of gaming and betting companies operating legally in Brazil.
It is legitimate – and necessary – for the Public Authorities to combat illegal gambling, indebtedness, problem gambling, and to protect people in vulnerable situations. AMIG has always defended a responsible industry, subject to rigorous controls. What cannot be allowed is for legitimate concerns to be used to confuse authorized companies with clandestine operators and to dismantle the regulated market, precisely when Brazil has begun to have instruments to monitor, tax, hold accountable, and demand standards of conduct.
You don't threaten a "bet" (a slang term for a prostitute). You threaten women.
AMIG brings together around 1.500 members and represents an industry in which approximately 10 women work and build careers. These are professionals in technology, compliance, legal, anti-money laundering, responsible gaming, customer service, payments, information security, marketing, and government relations. Women who support families, hold leadership positions, are entrepreneurs, and help build a more responsible sector.
When the regulated sector is indiscriminately threatened, it is not an abstraction that is being threatened. Jobs, careers, income, taxes, and the economic autonomy of thousands of women are being threatened.
Over 10 million female bettors need protection – not illegality.
According to official data from the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting of the Ministry of Finance (SPA/MF), women represent 31,70% of active bettors in the regulated Brazilian market. This amounts to approximately 10,1 million female bettors among 31.821.805 unique active bettors. The discussion about the future of regulation therefore involves a significant portion of women who use betting products within an environment subject to law, oversight, and state protection mechanisms.
Who will protect these women if the activity is pushed back underground? In the regulated market there are – and should be continuously improved – gambler identification, age verification, self-exclusion, risk monitoring, responsible gambling, money laundering prevention, transaction traceability, data protection, advertising rules, oversight, and customer service channels.
In the illegal market, these guarantees do not exist. Clandestine operators do not comply with the SPA/MF (Spanish Gambling and Financial Markets), do not fulfill the same obligations of responsible gambling and consumer protection, do not collect the taxes and make the required allocations from authorized operators, and make it difficult for the State to monitor, supervise, and hold them accountable. Weakening the legal market does not automatically reduce the demand for betting. It can mean transferring consumers – including more than 10 million women – to environments without oversight and without the protections built by regulation.
Prohibiting is not synonymous with protecting.
The history of public policy demonstrates that prohibiting an activity for which there is demand does not make that demand disappear. The discussion cannot be reduced to "allow or prohibit." The real choice is between an identified, monitored, taxed market subject to increasingly stringent consumer protection rules – and a clandestine market, invisible to the State and much more difficult to control.
AMIG does not advocate for a lack of rules. On the contrary, it advocates for strong regulation, effective oversight, rigorous combat against illegal gambling, policies for the prevention and treatment of problem gambling, financial education, responsible advertising, and constant evolution of tools to protect vulnerable bettors. If there are flaws, they should be corrected. If there are rules to improve, they should be improved. If there are illegal operators, they should be combated with the utmost rigor. But the existence of problems does not justify dismantling the very structure created to address them.
Policies with such significant social, economic, and regulatory impact must be built on data, evidence, proportionality, and dialogue – including with entities from the regulated sector, responsible gaming experts, and organizations representing women working in this industry. The protection of vulnerable people cannot be opposed to the existence of a regulated market. Regulation must be part of that protection.
Working women and gamblers cannot foot the bill.
On one hand, thousands of female workers whose income, financial independence, and career path depend on a legal and regulated business environment. On the other hand, millions of women who invest in and need to remain within – not outside – the reach of state policies for protection, oversight, and responsible gaming. Removing these women from the regulated environment does not make them disappear. It removes the protections that regulation was created to offer.
The way forward is to strengthen legality.
AMIG calls upon the President of the Republic, the Ministry of Finance, the National Congress, and all authorities involved to clearly differentiate between those who comply with the law and those who act outside of it. The responsible path is to combat illegality, monitor legality, and continuously improve regulations – not to destroy what the Brazilian State itself has just built.
AMIG will continue to defend a responsible and sustainable industry. With the same firmness, it will continue to defend the women who work in this sector, the women who consume its products, and the right of all of them to a legal, regulated, and protected environment. Because a regulated sector generates protection, taxes, income, jobs, and opportunities. To dismantle it is to relinquish these gains and return millions of people to invisibility.
Fighting illegality is protecting women.
Weakening the rule of law leaves them more exposed.
Respectfully,
Founders of AMIG
AMIG – Association of Women in the Gaming Industry
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*Source of participation data by gender: Secretariat of Prizes and Bets of the Ministry of Finance, SEI Dispatch No. 64292406, Process No. 19995.012803/2026-27, data from SIGAP extracted on September 8, 2026.
