R$1,3 billion went unclaimed in betting sites: 86 million accounts have less than R$1 in balance.
Finance Minister Dario Durigan presented a new report on Tuesday (6) regarding the ban on fixed-odds betting. According to him, it was the first day without any legally authorized site operating in the country, with the 188 previously enabled addresses offline. However, the report released by the ministry itself states that one of the 188 sites was still operating and that the blocking had already been requested.
Balance retained
The deadline for the voluntary withdrawal of funds ended at 23:59 pm on Monday (5). According to the bulletin from the Prizes and Bets Secretariat (SPA), R$ 1,325 billion is still awaiting return to approximately 26,5 million bettors. The schedule is as follows:
⇒ Until October 7th: companies will send the banks the balance of each bettor, by CPF (Brazilian tax identification number), and the bank account used for deposits;
⇒ From October 9th to 14th: financial institutions make the refunds;
⇒ Starting October 14th: amounts whose refund is prevented will be transferred to Caixa, which will be responsible for the payment.
Durigan highlighted the concentration of the balance: 1% of bettors, about 200 people, hold 80% of the outstanding amount, and 3,4% account for 90%. The official report shows the other side of this equation: 86,2 million accounts have between R$ 0,01 and R$ 0,99, totaling R$ 15,5 million. The 20% of the balance that is not held by the 1% group, about R$ 265 million, divided among more than 26 million people, amounts to around R$ 10 per bettor.
The numbers describe a predominantly recreational audience, with negligible amounts spent on the platforms, and not a portrait of families with their savings trapped in betting houses.
There is also an arithmetic inconsistency in the minister's statement. If 200 bettors represent 1% of the total, the base would be 20 million people, not 26,5 million.
"Popular savings"
The minister's most impactful statement was that between R$ 600 million and R$ 650 million per day were being taken from people's savings to betting sites, and that this money was then being used by families. On Friday (2), the amount he cited was R$ 600 million, based on Central Bank data on transfers to betting house accounts.
The number measures deposits, not losses. Most of what the bettor deposits returns to them in the form of prizes. What remains with the operators is the GGR (gross gaming revenue), which, according to data from the Treasury itself obtained by BNLData via the Access to Information Law, totaled R$ 36,9 billion in 2025 and R$ 20,07 billion in the first half of 2026. This is equivalent to about R$ 101 million per day in 2025 and R$ 111 million per day this year, approximately one-sixth of the amount presented by the minister as money that "left" families.
Blocked and conflicting numbers
Durigan stated that Anatel blocked 11.740 illegal websites. The Finance Ministry report mentions 13.241 websites forwarded for blocking by Ciberlab/Senasp, from the Ministry of Justice, and by SPA between September 25th and October 6th, an average of 1.103 per day. The difference indicates that approximately 1.500 reported addresses had not yet been taken down.
On social media, the minister cited 3.489 pages, profiles, and groups with removal requests. The report counts 3.552: 1.974 pages on Facebook, 560 profiles on Instagram, 900 channels and groups on Telegram, 103 profiles on TikTok, 14 groups on WhatsApp, and one server on Discord.
The minister also said that this group impacted 17,2 million users and followers. The report is more cautious: the number refers only to Telegram, TikTok, WhatsApp, and Discord and may include the same person on more than one platform.
The volume of blocked sites reinforces the warning issued by the sector since the enactment of Provisional Measure 1.394: the prohibition took offline sites that paid licensing fees, collected taxes, and identified bettors by CPF (Brazilian taxpayer ID), while the illegal offering is renewed at a rate of over a thousand addresses per day.
Accounts under investigation
Approximately 40 accounts with balances exceeding R$ 500 and R$ 1 million were forwarded to the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Police for investigation of possible money laundering. On Friday, the minister had mentioned 48 accounts and noted that not all of them would necessarily be cases of money laundering. It is worth noting that these accounts are only identifiable because they were held by regulated operators, subject to anti-money laundering regulations.
Big techs
Durigan urged large technology companies to proactively remove illegal content, without relying on demands from the government or the courts.
Context
In June, Durigan himself assessed that a potential ban on betting could be harmful by stimulating and expanding the illicit market. Provisional Measure 1.394 still needs to be approved by Congress and is the subject of legal action before the Supreme Federal Court (STF), under the jurisdiction of Justice Luiz Fux.
