The Central Bank of Brazil (BC) prohibits Pix, TED, and boleto payments for fixed-odds betting and formalizes the financial freeze on the Provisional Measure related to betting.
The Central Bank published in the Official Gazette of the Union this Friday (2) three resolutions that close the main payment channels in the country to fixed-odds betting. Resolutions BCB nº 595, 596 and 597, approved by the Board of Directors in a session on September 30, amend the regulations of TED, boleto and Pix to include the prohibition of “processing, settling or enabling transactions intended for fixed-odds betting lotteries”, provided for in art. 14 of Provisional Measure nº 1.394, of September 25, 2026.
The three acts are signed by the Director of Financial System Organization and Resolution, Gilneu Francisco Astolfi Vivan, and come into effect on the date of publication.
What changes in each arrangement?
TED ( BCB Resolution No. 595 ). The regulation includes Article 4-A in BCB Resolution No. 256/2022. Issuing and receiving institutions of TED (Electronic Transfer of Funds) are obliged to prevent the processing, settlement, and facilitation of transactions intended for fixed-odds betting. The sole paragraph exempts transactions necessary for closing operations and returning funds to bettors.
Boleto ( BCB Resolution No. 596 ). The new Article 16-A of BCB Resolution No. 443/2024 imposes the same obligation on all institutions participating in the boleto payment arrangement. Unlike the other two regulations, the text does not include any exceptions.
Pix ( BCB Resolution No. 597 ). The prohibition is included as item XI of article 32 of the Pix Regulation, attached to BCB Resolution No. 1/2020. The provision lists the duties of the participants in the arrangement, alongside obligations such as monitoring Automatic Pix and disclosing the Special Refund Mechanism. Transactions for closing and refunding bettors are also excepted here.
The obligation is retroactive to the date of the Provisional Measure.
The most striking point is the time frame. The TED and boleto resolutions state that institutions are obligated to block transactions "from the date of publication of Provisional Measure No. 1.394," that is, from September 25th. However, the regulations were only approved five days later and published a week after the Provisional Measure.
In practice, the Central Bank signals that the prohibition stems directly from the provisional measure and that the resolutions merely incorporate it into the regulations of the arrangements. For banks and payment institutions, this means that transactions processed between September 25 and October 2 would theoretically already be in violation, even without an operational rule from the regulator during that period.
Boleto payments are subject to no exceptions for refunds.
The difference in wording between the three regulations creates an asymmetry. Pix and TED can be used to close transactions and return balances to bettors. Boleto cannot.
The likely explanation is operational: a boleto (bank slip) is a payment instrument where the payer sends funds to the beneficiary, and it cannot be used to refund amounts. Furthermore, Ordinance SPA/MF No. 615/2024 already prohibited the use of boletos by authorized operators. The inclusion of this instrument in the package indicates that the resolution's scope goes beyond the previously regulated market and encompasses any payment issued to betting operators.
What the resolutions don't say
The three rules are short and leave practical questions unanswered:
⇒ Transaction identification. There is no criterion for defining what constitutes a transaction "intended for" fixed-odds betting. The resolutions do not mention a list of CNPJs (Brazilian taxpayer identification numbers), transactional accounts registered with the Prizes and Betting Secretariat, or any other blocking parameter.
⇒ Limits of the exception. The texts do not establish a deadline or procedure for closing and refund transactions, referring only to Article 14 of the Provisional Measure.
⇒ Debit and prepaid cards , which were permitted in the regulated market, are not covered by the acts published this Friday.
⇒ Sanctions. None of the resolutions address specific penalties for non-compliance.
Illegal market out of reach
The block affects companies that operated with accounts identified in institutions authorized by the Central Bank, precisely the segment that was under supervision. Illegal websites, which according to data from the sector itself still account for more than 40% of the market after 22 months of regulation, usually operate through payment intermediaries, third-party accounts, and crypto assets—channels that are not reached by simply changing the regulations for Pix, TED, and boleto.
Without objective identification criteria, the effectiveness of the measure against these operators will depend on the monitoring capacity of each financial institution.
