Five financial institutions work with 2,6 illegal gambling websites.

Five financial institutions and ten payment systems enable the operation of 2.645 illegal betting websites. All the betting sites analyzed are not on the Ministry of Finance's lists of companies authorized to operate until the end of 2024, nor are they among the portals taken down by Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) following requests from the ministry, according to a report by Folha de S.Paulo.

The institution that appears most frequently offering these services is Celcoin, with 1.075 websites. Next comes Voluti, with 835, Fitbank, with 362, Microcash, with 224, and Iugu, with 146.

All five are financial technology startups that define themselves as platforms for financial services. They are not classified as banking institutions because the Central Bank's rules for reaching that level are more stringent.

Voluti, Microcash, and Fitbank have stated that they do not work with betting sites, but rather with payment systems contracted by the betting companies.

All five companies stated that they comply with federal government regulations. They also said that, after the Ministry of Finance published a list of over 2 websites banned from operating, they contacted their payment system partners to request the termination of their relationship with websites included on the list.

On the 31st, the Treasury sent Anatel a new list of unauthorized betting sites with 1.443 domains to be blocked. As of the time of this report, the analyzed sites were still operating.

The ten systems that appeared most frequently as intermediaries for illegal bets are Ako Pago (292), Onepay (268), Zam Pago (266), ABC Tech (205), Golden Pig (198), Luckgame (177), HKPay (159), Zalka (138), Logame do Brasil (125) and New Pay (116).

Of the ten, eight have been in existence for five months or less. The exceptions are Onepay and New Pay. None of the payment systems responded to the reporter's questions.

The path between the bettor's money and the betting company (or vice versa, in case of a win) is tortuous. There are at least a dozen companies besides the betting company in this process, such as the game developer and the platform where it is hosted. Among these companies are payment systems, intermediaries between financial institutions and betting sites.

The survey of financial institutions and payment systems involved in illegal betting was conducted by Abrajogo (Brazilian Association of International Gaming Operators and Providers) and stemmed from social media posts by influencers publicizing the internet domains.

From there, a transfer was simulated to each site, making it possible to determine the destination bank and the payment arrangement acting as an intermediary. In addition to the five financial institutions that conduct operations with illegal betting, there are another 19 that also adopt the practice on a smaller scale.

Continuous monitoring of the network is being carried out to find new cases, they added. The Ministry of Finance did not respond to the reporter's questions about the situation.

For industry associations, it is essential to attack the financial infrastructure that allows illegal betting sites to profit in Brazil.

“The financial aspect is the only way to materialize their activity in Brazil. They can set up the entire system abroad, but to access the money they need local institutions, and that's the point we need to address. Blocking the websites isn't enough; we need to create mechanisms to block access to the money,” summarized André Lins, legal director of Adeja (Association in Defense of Games and Betting).

In his view, the division between financial institutions and payment systems serves to outsource responsibilities.

“They create these mechanisms so that, when they reach one of them, they can say that their part is only to generate the Pix payment. The other says that their part is only to receive the Pix payment. We have to criminalize the receipt of Pix payments by unauthorized companies,” he explained.

The president of Abrajogo, Witoldo Hendrich Junior, lists three fronts for combating illegal websites. “Combating payment methods is the most important; the government has to go after the banks and payment methods. Next, there's the media that disseminates information, the influencers. The domain name [on the internet] is the last and least important, [because] within 30 minutes [after being taken down] the illegal website creates another one,” he explained.