Brazil SPA sets rules for using the R$5 million betting reserve to repay players

Brazil's Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA), part of the Ministry of Finance, has published detailed procedures for betting operators that need to use — or later recover — the financial reserve they were required to set up under the 2024 payments rules, after Provisional Measure No. 1,394 banned fixed-odds betting nationwide.

Normative Instruction SPA/MF No. 32, dated November 6, 2026 and signed by SPA secretary Daniele Correa Cardoso, was published in the Official Gazette (Diário Oficial da União) on November 10, in edition 211-A, Section 1, Extra A, at page 16. Article 16 says the instruction enters into force on the date of publication. The Ministry of Finance issued a press release on the instruction on November 11.

The reserve itself is not new. Normative Ordinance SPA/MF No. 615 of April 16, 2024, Article 9, required each operator to constitute a financial reserve of at least R$5 million as a precaution against insolvency or illiquidity, to guarantee payment of prizes and other amounts owed to bettors. That reserve must be held in federal public securities registered in the Selic system, at a financial institution authorised by the Central Bank of Brazil, and kept separate from the operator's transactional accounts and other proprietary accounts. The November 11 ministry press release restates the R$5 million figure.

Using the reserve to repay bettors

Instruction 32 covers two kinds of movement of that reserve, in the context of the refund duties in Articles 7 to 9 of Provisional Measure No. 1,394. The first is use of the reserve to cover obligations to bettors when the amount an operator has already made available to the institutions that hold its transactional accounts, under Article 8, caput, item I, of the provisional measure, is not enough to repay all amounts owed. The second is the later release of reserve funds when there are no known obligations to bettors.

Movement of the reserve still requires prior SPA authorisation, the instruction says, citing Article 9, paragraph 6, item "c", of Ordinance 615. Authorisation to use the reserve does not allow the money to be applied to the operator's own operating, administrative, labour, tax, corporate or other obligations, including costs of winding down its activities. It also does not amount to a finding that the operator managed its transactional accounts in line with Article 4, paragraph 3, of Ordinance 615, and it does not prevent later liability proceedings for breaches of the sector rules.

Once use is authorised, custodian banks must transfer the funds to the account designated by Caixa Econômica Federal for the refund procedure in Article 9, paragraph 3, of the provisional measure. The money remains earmarked exclusively for repayment of amounts owed to bettors. Caixa already takes over refunds that the account-holding banks cannot complete, as described in AskSpinner's earlier reporting on the extinction of the 85 federal betting authorisations.

To apply, an operator must file a request in the form of Annex I and a statement by its administrators in the form of Annex II. It must also send the reserve's custodian bank an itemised list of bettors whose unpaid amounts are to be covered by the reserve; the sum requested must equal that list. Those bettors must already appear on the list of people who were not repaid because of an insufficient balance, which the transactional-account institutions filed through the Betting Management System (SIGAP). SPA will check that the amounts requested are consistent with that SIGAP information, and the operator must explain any discrepancies.

If SPA grants authorisation, it will issue an official letter (ofício) to the custodian identifying the operator and the authorised amount, and authorising liquidation of reserve assets up to that amount and the full transfer of the corresponding funds to the Caixa account. The transfer may take place only after the itemised list has been processed in SIGAP. The instruction limits any authorisation to the amount needed to cover remaining obligations to bettors.

The administrators' statement in Annex II requires the signatories to declare, among other points, that other sources of funds in the company's contingency plan have been exhausted, and that they are aware that a shortfall in the transactional accounts may be inconsistent with Article 4, paragraphs 3 and 7, of Ordinance 615. The statement must be digitally signed by the administrator responsible for accounting and finance and by another administrator with authority to represent the company; signature by an attorney-in-fact is not accepted.

Releasing leftover reserve funds

After the refund procedures in Articles 7 to 9 of the provisional measure have been completed, and if there are no known obligations to bettors, an operator may apply to have the remaining reserve released. The request must include a form in Annex III; financial statements audited by an independent auditor registered with the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) for the year ended December 31, 2025 and for the company's financial position as of October 31, 2026 or a later date (at least a balance sheet, income statement, cash-flow statement and notes); a special assurance report from a CVM-registered auditor meeting the minimum content in Annex V; and an administrators' statement in Annex IV.

If SPA then finds no remaining known obligations to bettors and no other regulatory obstacle, it will issue an official letter authorising liquidation of the reserve assets and credit of the funds to an account the operator may freely use, ending the restrictions in Article 9, paragraph 6, of Ordinance 615.

Applications to use or release the reserve must be filed electronically in the Electronic Information System (SEI) at https://colaboragov.sei.gov.br. False, inaccurate or omitted information submitted to SPA exposes those responsible to applicable administrative, civil and criminal sanctions, Article 15 says.

Congress's president has separately extended the life of Provisional Measure 1,394 by 60 days under Act 118/2026.