The Ministry of Finance, via the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets, took another step in the process of regulating the Brazilian sports betting and online gaming market.
Last Friday (23), the Treasury published an ordinance that defines the requirements and procedures relating to the recognition of the operational capacity of entities certifying betting systems.
In addition, this ordinance also covers live gaming studios and online games to be used by fixed-odd betting lottery operators in the national territory.
Check out the full content of the Ministry of Finance’s ordinance:
THE SECRETARY OF PRIZES AND BETS SUBSTITUTES THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE, in the use of the powers conferred on it by art. 55, item I, item “d”, of Annex I of Decree No. 11,907, of January 30, 2024, and in view of the provisions of Law No. 13,756, of December 12, 2018, in Law No. 14,790, of 29 December 2023, and in art. 6th, item V, of MF Normative Ordinance No. 1,330, of October 26, 2023, resolves:
Preliminary Provisions
Art. 1 This Ordinance establishes the requirements and procedures relating to the recognition of the operational capacity of entities certifying betting systems, live gaming studios and online games to be used by fixed-odd betting lottery operators, what the art deals with. 29 of Law No. 13,756, of December 12, 2018, and Law No. 14,790, of December 29, 2023.
Art. 2 For the purposes of this Ordinance, it is considered:
I – certifying entity: legal entity with operational capacity recognized by the Ministry of Finance to test and certify equipment, programs, instruments and devices that comprise betting systems, live gaming studios and online games used by lottery operators fixed odds betting, subject to the technical requirements established in specific regulations;
II – betting system: computerized system managed and made available by operators to bettors that enables the registration of bettors, the management of their virtual wallets and other functionalities necessary for the management, operation and commercialization of fixed-odd bets;
III – operating agent: legal entity with authorization from the Ministry of Finance to operate fixed-odd betting lottery;
IV – critical components: any component in which a failure or compromise could lead to the loss of the bettor’s rights, loss of revenue from the Union or legal recipients, impediment or difficulties in the regulator’s access to operational information, occurrence of unauthorized access to data the betting system, or non-compliance with the rules that regulate the operation of fixed-odd betting in the country;
V – online game: electronic channel that enables virtual betting in a game in which the result is determined by the outcome of a random future event, based on a random generator of numbers, symbols, figures or objects defined in the rules; It is
VI – live gaming studio: physical environment that uses live video transmission technology to deliver live online games to a remote gaming device integrated into the betting system that allows the bettor to participate in live games, interact with game attendants and other bettors.
Single paragraph. For the purposes of the provisions of items V and VI of the caput, the fixed odds bets referred to in Law No. 13,756, of 2018, and Law No. 14,790, of 2023, may only have as their object online games or virtual events of online gambling that contain a multiplication factor for the amount bet that previously defines the amount to be received by the bettor, in the event of a prize, for each unit of national currency bet, in accordance with the provisions of items II, VIII and IX of the art. 2nd, and in item II of art. 3rd, of Law No. 14,790, of 2023.
General Standards
Art. 3 Only certifying entities duly recognized by the Ministry of Finance, under the terms of this Ordinance, may issue a specific certificate for Brazil, attesting that betting systems and live gaming studios and online games presented by legal entities interested in granting fixed-odd betting for commercial exploitation and which will be used by authorized operating agents are in full compliance with the technical requirements defined in specific regulations.
Art. 4 Certifying entities must:
I – obtain, from the Ministry of Finance, recognition of its operational capacity to issue a certificate of conformity for betting systems, live gaming studios and online games for the legal entities mentioned in the caput of art. 3rd;
II – guarantee the Ministry of Finance access to all documents presented by legal entities interested in obtaining a grant for the commercial exploitation of fixed-odd betting and by operators and to the tests carried out, with the respective results, in the performance of activities related to certification;
III – issue conclusive assessment reports for certification, which must include each test carried out, the non-conformities identified and their degree of criticality, written in Portuguese;
IV – provide the email and address of the legal representative in Brazil to receive notifications;
V – inform the Ministry of Finance:
a) any events that may affect the results of the assessment conducted, regardless of their origin;
b) the list of those responsible for preparing assessment reports for certification and issuing certificates, keeping it permanently updated; and
c) any changes to the legal or organizational structure of the entity, providing the respective supporting documentation;
VI – refrain from carrying out assessments in cases that constitute a conflict of interest, in accordance with § 1 of art. 10; It is
VII – be constantly in compliance with:
a) obligations related to the confidentiality of data provided by legal entities interested in obtaining a grant for the commercial exploitation of fixed-odd betting and by operating agents, implementing physical and cyber security measures considered necessary for the custody and control of evaluation reports for certification prepared and certificates issued; It is
b) os requisitos estabelecidos nos arts. 5º e 6º.
Art. 5 The certifying entity must maintain a record of information on betting systems, live gaming studios and certified online games and respective evaluation reports for certification and certificates issued, specifying, at a minimum:
I – National Register of Legal Entities – CNPJ, company name and trade name of the certified operating agent;
II – name of the certificate;
III – form of evaluation used for certification;
IV – date of issuance of the assessment report for certification;
V – date of issue of the certificate;
VI – identification of the person responsible for issuing the documents referred to in the previous items; It is
VII – expiration date of the certificate’s validity.
Single paragraph. The certificates issued by the certifying entity must comply with the reporting models included in Annex VI of this Ordinance, without prejudice to the information referred to in the caput.
Recognition of Operational Capability
Art. 6 Recognition of the operational capacity of the certifying entity will be carried out exclusively by the competent technical area of the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets of the Ministry of Finance, upon proof, by the entity, of:
I – legal qualification;
II – tax and labor regularity;
III – proof of suitability; It is
IV – technical qualification.
Art. 7 The legal qualification provided for in item I of art. 6 must be demonstrated by presenting the following documents:
I – statute or articles of incorporation of the entity, duly registered with the competent body;
II – act of granting powers to the company’s legal representative;
III – copy of the identity card and the Individual Taxpayer Registry – CPF of the legal representative;
IV – proof of address, telephone number and corporate email of the company and its legal representative in Brazil;
V – summarized organizational structure;
VI – declaration, signed by a legally responsible person, that the company does not maintain relations with and does not depend on any other companies, private entities or bodies that have an interest in the results of the evaluations, in accordance with Annex III of this Ordinance;
VII – declaration, signed by a legally responsible person, that the company maintains the confidentiality of evaluation results, in accordance with Annex IV of this Ordinance;
VIII – declaration, signed by a legally responsible person, that the company agrees to receive notifications from the Prizes and Bets Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance through the email indicated in the qualification process, as per Annex V of this Ordinance; and
IX – authorization, through decree or act issued by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, to operate in Brazil and act of registration or authorization to operate issued by the competent body, if the activity so requires, for a foreign company with a subsidiary, branch , agency, office, establishment or agent in Brazil.
§ 1 For foreign entities, the proof required in section I must be provided by means of an appropriate document, from the proponent’s country of origin, duly apostilled or legalized by the Brazilian Embassy or Consulate in that country, accompanied by the Portuguese version, translated by a Brazilian sworn public translator.
§ 2 To comply with items II and IV, the foreign entity must send a document proving representation in the country, by an individual or legal entity, with express powers to receive summons and respond administratively and judicially for acts arising from the exercise of the certification activity.
Art. 8 The documentation relating to tax and labor regularity, provided for in item II of art. 6th, must be demonstrated by presenting the following documents:
I – Joint certificate referring to federal taxes and the Union’s Active Debt, administered, within the scope of their competences, by the Special Secretariat of the Federal Revenue and the Attorney General’s Office of the National Treasury;
II – Certificate of Regularity of the Length of Service Guarantee Fund – FGTS (CRF), issued by Caixa Econômica Federal, which proves the regularity of the situation with the FGTS;
III – Clearance Certificate of Labor Debts (CNDT), issued by the Superior Labor Court; It is
IV – Certificate of regularity with the state, municipal or Federal District Treasury of the applicant’s domicile or headquarters, or other equivalent, in accordance with the law.
§ 1 Foreign entities that do not operate in Brazil must present the following documents, for the purposes of demonstrating tax and labor regularity:
I- statement or supporting certificate issued by a competent authority in its country of origin, that the company does not owe taxes to all spheres of government in the country of origin; and
II- declaration or certificate issued by a competent authority in your country of origin, stating the absence of social security and labor debts; and
III- document equivalent to that provided for in item II of the caput issued by a competent authority in your country of origin.
§ 2 The documents referred to in § 1 must be duly apostilled or legalized by the Brazilian Embassy or Consulate in that country, accompanied by the Portuguese version, translated by a sworn Brazilian public translator.
§ 3 In the event of the non-existence of the documents provided for in § 1 or equivalent, a statement reporting this situation must be sent.
Art. 9 The documentation relating to proof of the entity’s suitability, provided for in item III of art. 6th, must be demonstrated by presenting the following documents:
I – Clearance Certificate of Unsuitable and Disqualified Persons, issued by the Federal Audit Court; It is
II – Correctional Clearance Certificate, issued by the General Comptroller of the Union, consolidating data from the CGU-PJ System, the National Register of Disqualified and Suspended Companies (CEIS), the National Register of Punished Companies (CNEP), and the Register of Private Entities Impedidas Non-Profit Organizations (CEPIM) and information on disciplinary procedures within the scope of bodies, entities, public companies and mixed capital companies of the Federal Executive Branch.
§ 1 Foreign entities that do not operate in Brazil must present, for the purposes of proving their suitability, documents equivalent to those provided for in items I and II of the caput issued by a competent authority in their country of origin.
§ 2 The documents referred to in § 1 must be duly apostilled or legalized by the Brazilian Embassy or Consulate in that country, accompanied by the Portuguese version, translated by a sworn Brazilian public translator.
§ 3 In the event of the non-existence of the documents provided for in § 1 or equivalent, a statement reporting this situation must be sent.
Art. 10. The technical qualification provided for in item IV of art. 6 must be demonstrated by presenting documentation proving compliance with the following requirements:
I – minimum professional experience of three years, with national or international references, detailing the work carried out in relation to the certification of betting systems, live gaming studios and online gaming;
II – existence, among the professionals responsible for carrying out the assessments, of specialists in the following areas:
a) math
b) mechanical, electrical and software engineering;
c) compliance;
d) accounting audit;
e) communication network engineering;
f) quality control; and
g) security and cybersecurity audits;
III – existence of a detailed methodology for the evaluation and certification of betting systems, live gaming studios and online games;
IV – existence of procedures and measures to guarantee the physical and cyber security of the information processed and the results obtained in the certification evaluation process; and
V – certifications:
a) ISO/IEC 17025 (General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories); and
b) ISO/IEC 17020 (Requirements for the functioning of different types of bodies that carry out inspection).
§ 1 The technical person, director, manager, supervisor or any other member of the team responsible for assessments to certify the conformity of betting systems, live game studios and online games cannot be hired by legal entities interested in obtaining a grant for the commercial exploitation of fixed-odd betting or by authorized operators, within twelve months following the evaluation.
§ 2 Certifying entities must prepare and document an integrity policy, highlighting situations that may affect their independence and the procedures adopted with the aim of monitoring, identifying and preventing their occurrence, as well as conflicts of interest.
§ 3 The integrity policy referred to in § 2 must be kept updated and available to the Prizes and Betting Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance.
Recognition Process
Art. 11. The request for recognition of operational capacity of the entities referred to in art. 1st must be carried out, obligatorily, through an electronic petition carried out in the Electronic Information System (SEI), through access to the electronic address https://sei.economia.gov.br/, or whatever replaces it, addressed to the Secretary of Prizes and Bets of the Ministry of Finance.
§ 1 The application referred to in the caput must be filed in accordance with the model established in Annex I of this Ordinance, containing:
I – identification of the requesting entity and its legal representative, indicating the electronic address for sending notifications;
II – date and place of the application;
III – indication of the type of qualification for which you wish to be recognized, being:
a) betting systems;
b) live game studios;
c) online games; or
d) betting systems, live gaming studios and online gaming; and
IV – signature of the legal representative of the requesting entity.
§ 2 The documents mentioned in arts. 7th, 8th, 9th and 10 must be sent together with the request referred to in the caput of this article.
§ 3 All documents, including annexes and appendices, must be written in Portuguese.
§ 4 Documents originally produced in a foreign language must be translated into Portuguese by a Brazilian sworn public translator.
Art. 12. Notifications arising from analyzes carried out within the scope of the requirements set out in art. 11 must be sent to the electronic address provided by the entity, through the Electronic Information System – SEI, and the entity will be considered duly notified from the sixth day of the date of sending the notification, or on the date of consultation, if earlier.
Art. 13. In cases where the request does not meet the defined requirements or does not include the established documents, the interested party will have ten working days, counting from the date of communication from the Prizes and Bets Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance, to carry out any adjustments and corrections or send missing documentation.
Single paragraph. If the deadline established in the caput is not observed, the request may be archived.
Art. 14. The verification and analysis of the documents sent by the requesting entity will be completed by the competent technical area of the Prizes and Bets Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance within thirty days.
§1 During the application analysis process, the Prizes and Betting Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance may request additional information or documents to support the assessment of compliance with the requirements established in this Ordinance.
§ 2 In cases where there is a need to rectify or resend any information or document from the requesting entity, the analysis by the competent technical area of the Prizes and Bets Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance will be suspended until the requested information is sent by the applicant.
Art. 15. After verifying and analyzing the information and documents sent by the requesting entity, which are in compliance with the requirements established in this Ordinance, the Prizes and Bets Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance will publish in the Official Gazette of the Union an Ordinance of recognition of the entity’s operational capacity, granting it the right to certify the betting systems, live gaming studios and online games of legal entities interested in granting the commercial exploitation of fixed-odd betting and authorized operators.
§ 1. Qualification requests will be analyzed in accordance with the sequential order of their entry records in the system referred to in the caput of art. 11.
§ 2 If there are any complications in making the system available, the Prizes and Betting Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance will publish an alternative way of sending the information by the requesting entity.
Art. 16. The requesting entity may file an appeal, within a period of ten days, counting from being aware of the decision that rejects the recognition of its operational capacity, subject to the provisions of art. 11.
§ 1 The appeal must be addressed to the authority that issued the decision, accompanied by documents justifying the reconsideration.
§ 2 The reconsideration of the decision by the authority referred to in § 1 must be evaluated within five working days.
§ 3 If the rejection is maintained by the authority referred to in § 1, the appeal must be submitted to the higher court.
Art. 17. Recognition of the operational capacity of the certifying entity will be valid for a period of three years, provided that the conditions of legal qualification, fiscal and labor regularity, suitability and technical qualification demonstrated at the time the application referred to was filed were maintained. the art. 11.
Art. 18. The recognition of the operational capacity of a certifying entity may be canceled in the event of the following circumstances:
I – at the request of the entity; and
II – through a reasoned decision from the Prizes and Betting Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance, due to:
a) dissolution or closure of the entity;
b) declaration of insolvency, declaration of bankruptcy or granting of judicial recovery processing of the entity;
c) non-compliance with the obligations established for entities certifying betting systems, live gaming studios and online gaming;
d) obtaining recognition of operational capacity through the presentation of false documents; and
e) loss of the conditions that led to the recognition of the entity’s operational capacity.
Single paragraph. The certifying entity must be notified of the decision to cancel the recognition of operational capacity through the electronic address indicated in the application, without prejudice to the publication of the decision on the Ministry of Finance’s website and in the Official Gazette of the Union.
Final dispositions
Art. 19. This Ordinance comes into force on the date of its publication.
SIMONE APARECIDA VICENTINI
