Tax authorities impose precautionary measures on authorized betting operators.
The Secretariat for Prizes and Betting of the Ministry of Finance (SPA/MF) published , this Friday (August 14th), seven precautionary measures against six fixed-odds betting operators. The actions were taken within the scope of Administrative Sanctioning Processes (PAS) initiated in August 2025, almost a year before the decisions now released.
The sheer volume and simultaneity of the measures—seven precautionary measures in a single day, involving Pixbet, KBet, Zeroum, MMABet, Megaposta, and BRX Bet/RicoBet—generated apprehension among operators in the regulated sector. The timing exacerbates this unease: the announcements occurred late on a Friday afternoon, in the same week that a police operation targeted another betting platform, in a political environment already tense due to the election period.
Failures in the SIGAP system are the main reason for most decisions.
Five of the seven precautionary measures share the same justification: to ensure that the required regulatory information is correctly submitted and processed in the Betting Management System (SIGAP). The companies affected by this ground are Zeroumbet Plataforma Digital Ltda. (brands Zeroum, Sportvip and Energia), Enseada Serviços e Tecnologia Ltda. (KBet), Select Operations Ltda. (MMABet, Betvip and Papigames), Nexus International Ltda. (Megaposta) and Pixbet — in one of the two precautionary measures that the company received.
SIGAP is the central oversight tool created by Law No. 14.790/2023. Through it, the SPA/MF monitors in real time the volumes wagered, the gross gaming revenue (GGR), and the compliance with regulatory obligations by licensed operators. Discontinuities in data transmission to the system directly compromise the Secretariat's ability to supervise the sector.
Pixbet, Zeroumbet, and RicoBet: distinct situations.
Pixbet Soluções Tecnológicas Ltda. (CNPJ 40.633.348/0001-30), owner of the Pixbet, Ganhei Bet, and Bet da Sorte brands, is the only operator facing two simultaneous lawsuits—both with decisions dated August 13, 2026, and linked to the same administrative proceeding opened on August 13, 2025. The first precautionary measure requires the implementation of effective mechanisms for controlling, evaluating, and monitoring bettors within the framework of responsible gambling policies. The second addresses failures in the SIGAP system.
The situation of Zeroumbet involves an additional element: the company operates under a preliminary injunction from the 14th Federal Civil Court of the Judicial Section of São Paulo, which ordered its inclusion in the list of authorized operators after the SPA/MF (São Paulo State Securities Market Commission/Ministry of Finance) denied its authorization request due to questions about the suitability of its partners. The precautionary measure now imposed, therefore, applies to a company that entered the regulated market through judicial means.
RR Participações e Intermediações de Negócios Ltda. (CNPJ 23.159.703/0001-62), responsible for the brands BRX Bet, RicoBet and the domain multi.bet.br, received a precautionary measure with a different motivation than the others. Its purpose is to ensure the safety of bettors and the regulated market until the conclusion of the sanctioning process itself, without express reference to irregularities in SIGAP.
What precautionary measures can determine
Precautionary measures are provided for in articles 44 to 46 of Law No. 14.790/2023 and in articles 31 to 33 of Ordinance SPA/MF No. 1.233/2024. Instruments of the supervisory and sanctioning activity of the Secretariat, they can be activated whenever two requirements are met: the likelihood of the infraction and the danger of delay; that is, when there is a concrete risk to the market or to bettors if the measure is not adopted before the conclusion of the administrative process.
In practical terms, the legislation authorizes four types of precautionary measures:
⇒ Temporary deactivation of instruments, equipment, systems or components intended for the operation of betting;
⇒ Temporary suspension of premium payments;
⇒ collection of issued tickets;
⇒ other measures necessary to protect the legally protected interest.
The SPA/MF did not detail, in the published extracts, which of these measures was adopted in each case. This information depends on consulting the documents linked to each decision in the SEI system. The regulation stipulates that the precautionary measures applied must be published with an indication of the regulatory requirement that was not met.
Cases opened almost a year ago
One detail stands out in the chronology of the decisions: all six administrative disciplinary proceedings (PAS) were initiated in August 2025. The interval between the opening of the proceedings and the application of the precautionary measures is approximately one year, which indicates that the measures emerged at an advanced stage of the investigation—and not at the moment when the irregularities were initially identified.
This data contextualizes the warning that part of the sector is making about the risk of political instrumentalization of the precautionary measures. Applied at the end of a tense week for the sports betting market, the decisions are the result of long and technically sound processes; not of sudden moves by the Secretariat. The distinction is important in an environment where narratives about the sector frequently circulate detached from the facts ascertained by regulatory bodies.
