Brazil, Argentina, and US Regulators Collaborate on Joint Effort to Combat Illegal Betting

(AsiaGameHub) –   Regulators from Brazil, Argentina, and the United States stated at the 2026 Legitimuz Day event in São Paulo that illegal online betting has outpaced the systems designed to monitor and control it.

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Good to Know

• Regulators noted that illegal betting now spans across national borders, payment systems, and digital platforms.
• Brazil is leveraging Pix transaction data, website blockades, and state-level coordination to track unlawful operators.
• Argentina estimates roughly 80% of betting activity occurs outside regulated channels.

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Brazil Leverages Pix and Platform Controls

Brazil implemented federal betting regulations only in January 2025, following years without a comprehensive national framework. Fábio Macorin, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Finance’s Prizes and Betting Secretariat, explained that this delay allowed illegal operators to expand their presence.

“The absence of regulation let bad actors exploit the situation, inflicting significant harm on the nation, consumers, and the entire industry,” he stated.

Currently, Brazil is developing enforcement capabilities through collaborations instead of relying solely on staff numbers. The Prizes and Betting Secretariat has around 80 staff members—much fewer than Nevada’s 400 gaming regulation experts. As a result, Brazil is partnering with Anatel to block illegal websites, CONAR on advertising guidelines, the Ministry of Health on self-assessment and self-exclusion programs, and the Digital Council to alert Meta, Google, TikTok, and other platforms.

Giovanni Rocco, National Secretary for Sports Betting and Sport Economic Development at the Ministry of Sport, noted that payment tracking provides Brazil with an additional tool.

“Over 95% of bets in Brazil are made using Pix. This enables capital monitoring that isn’t available in countries relying on credit cards,” he said.

The panel—entitled “International Best Practices in Betting Regulation: What Can We Learn and Teach?”—featured Brian Krolicki (Vice President of the International Association of Gaming Regulators and former Nevada regulator), Ezequiel Dominguez (Director of the Buenos Aires City Lottery), and was moderated by Legitimuz’s Fred Justo.

Krolicki mentioned that after 70 years of gaming regulation, Nevada has valuable principles to offer, but not a one-size-fits-all model.

“What works in Nevada may not be suitable for other regions. However, core principles—integrity, oversight, regulatory independence, and transparent cooperation—are universal,” Krolicki stated, according to BNL Data.

Online betting presents a unique enforcement challenge since there are no physical borders in the digital marketplace.

“Criminals act rapidly, while regulators must operate within legal and transparent frameworks, which takes more time. This is why international collaboration is critical.”

Argentina deals with its own iteration of the same problem. Dominguez explained that the country’s provincial regulatory model is more effective for land-based gaming than for online betting. He likened it to “24 countries in one,” where each province sets its own rules, but offshore operators easily bypass these regulations.

Buenos Aires has established a Specialized Gambling Prosecutor’s Office, which can sentence illegal operators to three to six years in prison. Its response also includes blocking illegal websites, running awareness campaigns for schools and parents, and taking action against affiliates, ATMs, and influencers promoting unlawful gambling.

Brazil is also working to align its states via SINAPO—a coalition of 16 states focused on standardizing regulations. Additionally, ANJL is supporting a virtual lab to identify illegal betting websites.

Dominguez emphasized that no single country can address this issue independently.

“A server might be located in one country and the company in another, with no extradition agreement in place. The only solution is collaboration between regulators,” Dominguez asserted.