Following the implementation of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s decision to ban legal gambling, licensed operators began taking their websites and apps offline on 6 October.
In addition, on 7 and 8 October, companies are required to provide banks with all information on the net amounts remaining in players’ accounts to facilitate the refund of funds.
As for the deadlines, players had until 5 October to withdraw their funds themselves. Those who failed to do so in time will have to wait for banks and payment providers to issue refunds between 9 and 14 October.
As for the closure of the websites, the government is now reportedly redirecting all visitors to the brasilsembets.br page, which is used as a placeholder to signal that a gambling website is illegal.
Operators are of course not happy with this, and neither are the leading trade bodies of the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gambling (IBJR).
They have now directly appealed the decision to Supreme Court Minister Luiz Fux, noting that it could have an effect on around 100 million visits per day.
Their main argument is that gambling companies still have responsibilities even after the prohibition, such as processing refunds and keeping all systems and customer support services working during the transition period, which could be hampered by visitors being automatically redirected to another landing page.
Lula’s provision to end licensed gambling came into force on 26 September, just over two years after the President himself signed the legislation into law.
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