Apple and Google removed betting apps from their digital stores in Brazil on Tuesday, as a provisional measure banning fixed-odds betting in the country took effect.
Globo Online tracked 15 betting apps that had been legally operating in Brazil since the previous week. While all were available on Monday, none could be found on either app store the following morning.
Searches for betting site names or terms such as “bet” and “casino” instead returned games that simulate slot machines without financial payouts, as well as card games.
On Monday, users could still install the betting apps on their mobile phones, although deposits and bets had already been blocked. The apps displayed messages referring to the provisional measure, with some explicitly stating that new deposits could not be made.
By mid-afternoon on Monday, balances held on the platforms totalled R$1.33 billion (US$264.9 million). The government allowed the apps to remain available for download until Monday because this was the deadline for bettors to voluntarily withdraw their balances. The deadline expired at 11:59 p.m.
The provisional measure prohibits the operation, offering, intermediation, and advertising of fixed-odds betting in Brazil and established a timetable for closing the platforms and returning users’ funds.
The government set 5 October at 11:59 p.m. as the deadline for users to voluntarily withdraw their balances from the betting platforms. From midnight on 6 October, betting websites and apps were required to cease operations. On 7 and 8 October, betting companies were required to provide banks with details of the amounts held by each user, identified through their CPF, Brazil’s taxpayer identification number. Banks were then expected to return the funds to bettors between 9 and 14 October.
Most betting apps that remained installed on iPhones and Android devices redirected users to brasilsembets.com.br. The government intended the page to provide information on how users could redeem their balances, as well as awareness campaigns on the risks of gambling.
The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) has described the provisional measure as electioneering and legally invalid and recommended that its operators not implement it.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government introduced the measure nine days before the first round of the presidential election, following earlier regulation of the betting industry. Lula received fewer votes than expected in the first round, while his opponent Flávio Bolsonaro emerged as the leading candidate.