Brazil’s Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) has issued a market-wide prohibition on social sharing features across all licensed Bets platforms, after Kaizen Gaming’s Betano brand asked the regulator directly whether such tools could be deployed before any product launch.
The decision followed a direct request from Kaizen Gaming, which asked the SPA whether Betano could build tools around an integrated social environment for registered users. The proposed features included sharing betting slips, highlighting favourite casino and slot games, and displaying customer wins on user profiles.
Kaizen Gaming said it chose not to launch any social features while regulatory ambiguity existed, opting to seek an official ruling first. According to the company, some other licensed operators had already introduced similar functionality — meaning the SPA’s ruling now places those live products under the same market-wide prohibition.
What the query covered
The Betano query would have covered social-network-style engagement within a licensed betting environment. Registered users could have shared their activity, surfaced wins, and flagged preferred games to other users on the platform — stopping short of direct messaging but creating a visible social layer over the gambling product.
The SPA did not treat this as a marginal or technical question. The authority determined that even passive sharing of betting slips, wins, and gambling activity constitutes a form of data exchange between users. On that basis, social media-style mechanics fall within the existing prohibition, regardless of whether direct communication takes place.
Regulator points to Ordinance SPA/MF No. 722/2024
The SPA grounded its ruling in Ordinance SPA/MF No. 722/2024, which expressly prohibits social interaction tools on digital betting platforms. The authority confirmed its position is not specific to Betano or Kaizen Gaming — all operators licensed under Brazil’s Bets regime are bound by the same restriction.
That makes the clarification market-wide in effect. Operators still adapting to Brazil’s online gambling rules have another compliance boundary to observe, and those that have already built or planned similar features face a clear enforcement risk.
“Operators found to be in breach of the ordinance could face administrative sanction proceedings.” — Renato Perez Pucci, General Coordinator of Betting Supervision, SPA
The statement from Pucci leaves no room for ambiguity on consequences. Brazil’s Bets licensing regime has been in effect since 2024, and the regulator has signalled it will use its enforcement powers where operators test boundaries.
Loyalty programmes permitted within limits
The SPA’s position is not a blanket ban on all engagement tools. Operators can still run loyalty and rewards programmes, but those schemes must stay within the bounds set by Article 42 of Ordinance SPA/MF No. 1,231/2024. Under that provision, loyalty programmes cannot be used to increase play or alter customer gambling habits.
The distinction the regulator draws is between retention tools that reward existing activity and inducements that change behaviour. Social features that make wins visible to other users, or that allow betting slips to be shared, are treated as belonging to the second category — tools that could intensify play or influence others to gamble more.
Broader legislative pressure on the Bets framework
The SPA ruling arrives as Brazil’s government and lawmakers are already reviewing whether the Bets framework provides enough consumer protection. Both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are examining proposals that could tighten licensing conditions, compliance requirements, advertising rules, and responsible gambling safeguards.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has backed measures to ban gambling with borrowed money or credit and to strengthen protections for vulnerable customers. The Workers’ Party has gone further, tabling a bill to ban fixed-odds betting altogether. Even short of that position, the direction of travel in Brasília points toward tighter controls rather than looser ones.
Bets licence holders have been warned to prepare for a wider regulatory overhaul after the 2026 general election. For operators, the SPA notice on social features is another data point in the same direction: customer engagement tools in Brazil will stay under close regulatory scrutiny, and the space for product innovation is narrower than in many other regulated markets.
Source: Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA)
