Anatel prepares for a 'cat and mouse' chase with bets

The president of Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency), Carlos Baigorri, says that his team will only take down the betting sites indicated by the Ministry of Finance. "We will comply with what Law 14.790 of 2023 [which regulated online betting] says."

When questioned about the risk of blocked websites creating parallel domains to circumvent the actions of the Treasury and Anatel, Baigorri states that "it's a game of cat and mouse."

The Finance Ministry expected to block between 500 and 600 irregular websites, Minister Fernando Haddad estimated on Monday (30). This Thursday (3), in a meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), the estimate rose to 2.000, a number more in line with data from sector entities. Almost all of these domains are operated by foreigners without legal representation in the country, highlights the FSP.

The addresses should start being blocked from the 11th onwards. Anyone who has money on these sites must withdraw it by the 10th (see how to do it).

Baigorri acknowledged that the difficulties seen during the X blockade could be repeated.
"What are we going to do? We're going to receive this list from the Ministry of Finance, which regulates betting, and, in a partnership we're establishing with the Ministry of Finance, forward it to the operators so they can block the transactions."

Some smaller providers maintained access to Elon Musk's social network for days. Furthermore, the social network bypassed operator restrictions by updating its IP address (virtual address). According to the company, this measure aimed to re-establish operations in Latin America, which had previously been centralized in Brazil.

The agency had difficulties last year blocking the online casino Blaze to comply with a court order from the 2nd Court of Tax Crimes, Organized Crime and Money Laundering of São Paulo. At the time, according to Baigorri, the betting site created parallel domains to continue operating.

It's a tactic that doesn't require much technical skill, since betting sites are simple platforms, say people in the industry.

According to Baigorri, Anatel has police powers over telecommunications companies. "We exercise this power to ensure that court decisions, legislation, and regulations are complied with."

Regarding issues related to online betting, Law 14.790 guarantees that the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets can request the removal of illegal bets, even without a court order and despite the guarantees of the Brazilian Internet Bill of Rights.

The department will receive assistance from the Federal Police and the Ministry of Justice to identify illegal betting sites and prepare the list to be sent to Anatel.

The National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon), part of the Ministry of Justice, does not yet have a map of the betting sites in operation, and the Federal Police recently launched a broad investigation into the market.

On Tuesday (1st), the department released a list of online betting brands authorized to operate until the end of the year. Only the 93 companies that applied for a license from the Treasury Department by September 16 or already had state authorization received permission.

From January 1st, only companies licensed by the Treasury Department will be allowed to maintain nationwide betting websites under the “.bet.br” domain.