Brazil’s central bank on September 30 amended the Pix, TED, and boleto rules to require the institutions that handle those payments to block transactions bound for fixed-odds betting. Resolutions 595, 596, and 597 of the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), posted at 6:06 p.m. and 6:07 p.m. Brasília time (11:06 p.m. and 11:07 p.m. in Paris), apply article 14 of Provisional Measure No. 1,394, which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed on September 25 to outlaw sports betting and online gambling.
The three rails were the main ways money reached betting sites, according to Finsiders Brasil, a fintech trade publication. Pix is the instant payment scheme the BCB runs, TED (Transferência Eletrônica Disponível) is the interbank credit transfer, and the boleto is a barcode payment slip. Institutions on all three must now prevent the processing, settlement, and enabling of such transactions.
| Rail | Resolution | Text amended | Text dates duty from Sept. 25 | Refund carve-out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pix | No. 597 | Pix regulation, art. 32, item XI | No | Yes |
| TED | No. 595 | Resolution 256 of 2022, art. 4-A | Yes | Yes |
| Boleto | No. 596 | Resolution 443 of 2024, art. 16-A | Yes | Not restated |
The rules restate a duty in force since September 25
The resolutions take effect on publication in the Diário Oficial da União, Brazil’s official gazette, but the TED and boleto texts date the duty from the publication of the provisional measure (MP) on September 25. Resolution 590, adopted at an extraordinary board session on September 28, had already imposed it on all financial and payment institutions and on the owners and participants of every payment scheme. It lets scheme owners make the rulebook changes the ban requires without the BCB’s prior authorization or advance notice to participants, provided they inform both immediately afterward.
The Pix and TED texts exempt transactions needed to wind down operators and refund bettors. The boleto text does not repeat that carve-out, which the MP and Resolution 590 contain. The Pix amendment also reprints two earlier duties: curbing abuse of Pix Automático (Resolution 402 of July 22, 2024) and promoting the MED special refund mechanism to vulnerable users (Resolution 587 of September 18, 2026).
Institutions holding operators’ accounts will run the refunds
The MP bans the operation, offer, intermediation, and advertising of fixed-odds betting in Brazil, online or in person, including by operators based abroad. It covers bets on sports and online games, not the other lotteries authorized by law. Since publication, operators’ accounts may take in no new money, except proceeds from investments of bettors’ funds.
Operators must take their sites and apps offline ten days after publication, then send the institutions holding their accounts, within two days, a list of bettors with their CPF taxpayer numbers, the amounts owed, and the source accounts. Those institutions then have seven days to refund each bettor into an active account in the bettor’s name. Funds that cannot be returned go to a dedicated account at Caixa Econômica Federal. The MP also tells the BCB to set up an electronic data exchange so institutions can reject, and return between themselves, real-time transfers linked to illegal betting when those transfers settle in a system the BCB operates.
Pix volumes fell after the MP, without a proven link
BCB data cited by G1 on September 29 show 608.6 million Pix transactions settled from Saturday, September 26, to Monday, September 28, 10% below the average of the same days in the four previous weeks. Their value, R$183.58 billion, fell 15.5% on the same basis, according to Finsiders Brasil. The BCB had not answered G1 on a link to the MP, which the data alone do not establish, Finsiders notes.
The MP faces Congress and the Supreme Court
Congress can still overturn the MP, Finsiders Brasil notes. Two industry groups, ANJL and IBJR, asked the Supreme Federal Court (STF) on September 28 to suspend it, in a request addressed to Justice Luiz Fux, who handles related cases at the court, G1 reported. Paypedia found no ruling on suspension as of the morning of October 2.