Hundreds of illegal betting sites appeared on the radar in Brazil shortly after President Lula signed his Provisional Measure (MP) banning the regulated sector in the country.
Just an hour after the announcement on Friday (25 September), Bet Legal, a monitoring tool run by Iron Security, had already detected 41 new unlicensed sites online.
Iron Security is a cybersecurity firm that has provided anti-fraud and brand protection services to licensed operators in Brazil, and is currently collaborating with the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL).
A further 292 illegal sites appeared on Saturday. By Monday afternoon, the total had reached 543.
Detected does not mean created
The figures, however, do not show sites that were newly created after the ban.
According to Diego Terrani, CEO and founder of Iron Security, the tool records three dates for each site: the day it was detected, the day the domain was purchased and the day the site obtained a security certificate, the closest indication of when it went live. The 543 figure refers to the first of these.
Of the 486 sites detected from 6pm on Friday, the company was able to establish the purchase date for 322. Of those, 320 had been bought before the MP, and were around 10 months old on average. Only two were purchased after the ban, both on Saturday.
Unlicensed betting sites detected by Bet Legal since the MP. Screenshot taken on 29 September 2026 at 10:17 (Brasília time). Source: Iron Security/Bet Legal
Some are much older, with domains registered in the late 1990s and only identified now.
Terrani adds a caveat: the purchase date does not show when a domain became a betting site, and an old domain may have been repurposed after the MP was published.
To be included in the list, a site must be opened, confirmed as a betting operator and checked against the official licensed list of the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA), Brazil’s betting regulator.
Affiliate pages, domains for sale and duplicate addresses are excluded. Continuous monitoring began on 20 September, so there is no comparison with previous months.
Separate survey suggests much higher number
Elsewhere, a survey published by Brazilian industry outlet BNLData, produced for an industry body, points to much higher figures: 6,401 new sites between 22 and 28 September.
According to the study, the daily average of new sites launching in early September was 54. The number rose on 24 September, when news of the government’s upcoming decision leaked, and reached 1,692 on Saturday and 3,024 on Sunday.
On Sunday, Bet Legal published 76 newly detected sites. For Magno José of BNLData, the difference comes down to methodology: the system behind his survey has a much wider capture than Bet Legal’s.
Terrani acknowledges that his tool does not reach every site, but argues that Bet Legal only publishes addresses verified one by one.
“A count that multiplies to 3,000 on Sunday, while the other publishes 76, is recording a different event,” commented Terrani.
He adds that only 14 addresses on Bet Legal’s list were purchased during the week of the MP’s publication. In both cases, the figures count web addresses, not companies: a single operator can run several sites to replace those that are blocked.
The regulated industry is using the data to argue that the ban pushes bettors towards sites with no regulatory oversight. According to ANJL and the Brazilian Institute for Responsible Gaming (IBJR), 31 million people use licensed platforms, which verify age and taxpayer ID (CPF), as well as offering consumer protection measures including self-exclusion.
The government’s response
Since the MP was published, a task force from the Ministries of Justice and Finance has taken down 506 sites suspected of offering illegal betting.
The group is also monitoring Telegram channels promoting betting, with a combined 212,000 users.
From 6 October, telecoms operators and internet providers will be required to block betting sites, following government orders relayed through Anatel, Brazil’s telecoms regulator.
The rule also applies to sites based outside the country.
But the system is not yet ready. As of 25 September, the government and Anatel had not begun discussing how the blocking would work, and the committee responsible for the rules was only created on 28 September.
Anatel was contacted by NEXT.io but had not responded at the time of publication.
For the regulated industry, the cure may prove worse than the disease.
From 6 October, when licensed operators go offline, it will become clear whether the MP ends betting in Brazil or simply replaces licensed operators with illegal ones.