Brazil’s Federal Police (PF) now has an illegal betting division. Ordinance No. 1,325 of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), dated 9 October 2026 and published in the Official Gazette on 13 October, creates the Division for the Suppression of Illegal Betting and Sports Manipulation (DRAME) to investigate unlicensed gambling and match-fixing.
The move comes less than three weeks after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a provisional measure (MP) on 25 September that ended fixed-odds betting in Brazil, leaving every online sportsbook and casino in the country without a legal basis to operate.
Where the illegal betting division sits
DRAME reports to the General Coordination for the Suppression of Money Laundering and Asset Recovery (CGLA), which belongs to the PF’s Directorate for Investigation and Combat of Organised Crime and Corruption (Dicor), according to Ordinance MJSP No. 1,325 in the Official Gazette. A Betting Analysis Service (SEAAP) sits directly under DRAME.
The CGLA also houses a Coordination for Financial Intelligence and Money Laundering and a Coordination for Asset Recovery, so the betting investigators work alongside the PF’s money laundering and asset-tracing teams. The ordinance amends the annexes of MJSP Ordinance No. 1,112 of 19 December 2025 to bring the ministry’s structure into line with Decree No. 13,131 of 30 September 2026, and it took effect on publication.
PF Director-General Andrei Rodrigues formally requested the restructuring from the ministry on 25 September, the same day Lula signed the MP, according to Folha de S.Paulo reporting carried by Jornal de Brasília. In the internal document, Rodrigues said the aim was to “strengthen the institutional capacity of the Federal Police for the economic fight against organised crime” (translated from Portuguese). Folha put the monthly cost of the new structure at R$44,900.
The PF’s betting caseload
Between March 2023 and August 2026 the PF ran 12 operations linked to illegal betting and sports result manipulation, according to Folha. They produced at least 73 search warrants and 15 arrest warrants across Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Goiás, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraíba and the Federal District, and the PF asked courts to freeze R$4.17bn in assets.
In May 2026, ahead of the World Cup, the PF set up a temporary group with a one-year mandate to investigate match-fixing and betting fraud. DRAME gives that work a permanent home inside the force.
The enforcement push after the ban
Under the MP, new deposits were banned from 25 September and betting sites and apps had to go offline from 6 October, according to the federal government’s Agência Gov. Penalties for breaches range from warnings to fines of up to R$2bn. The Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) identifies illegal sites and notifies telecoms regulator Anatel, which blocks the domains.
On 29 September the Ministry of Justice said it had asked for 5,209 betting sites to be blocked, according to Folha. The ban has already hit the licensed sector: the national betting association ANJL estimates 3,500 jobs have been lost, and the policy has become an issue in the presidential race, with Flávio Bolsonaro attacking the ban before the run-off.
Next steps
Banks are due to return player balances from 9 to 14 October under the MP’s timeline, with Caixa Econômica Federal taking over refunds from 14 October where banks are obstructed. A separate bill that would define and criminalise five types of betting-related conduct needs approval from Congress before it takes effect, and the MP itself must be voted on by Congress to remain in force.
Photo: Rafa Neddermeyer/Agência Brasil, CC BY 3.0 BR
Source: Ministry of Justice and Public Security
