Brazilian online casinos for Real Money

Brazil first banned gambling back in 1941, when Article 50 of Decree-Law 3,688/1941 was passed. This is known as the Misdemeanour Law or Criminal Convention Act. In theory, all forms of gambling should be illegal in Brazil, but there are notable exceptions.

Horse racing, for instance, is run as a government-owned monopoly. Lotteries used to be run by the state, but this changed in 2020, when the Brazilian Supreme Court ended Caixa’s monopoly, in theory giving all twenty-eight provinces the right to regulate and legalise local state lottos. Poker tournaments are legal, but individual poker games (for money) are not. Bingo used to be legal but hasn’t been since 2004, while sports betting has been effectively legal since 2018. Fantasy sports betting isn’t considered gambling in Brazil, so that’s fully legal, too.

Casino gambling, at present, isn’t legal. Brazil’s gambling laws prohibit betting on games of chance. In theory, internet gambling also falls under this scope. However, it is worth pointing out that there is work afoot to regulate games of chance and open the online gambling market to regulated Brazilian casino sites.

At the time of writing, Brazil hasn’t yet legalised casino gambling. Therefore, there are no regulated Brazilian betting sites nor licenses to go with them. However, there are ways in which you can bet online – namely, offshore gambling sites.

Betting at offshore casinos is technically illegal, but not for Brazilian players. There are no punishments in place for betting at foreign, offshore casinos. Instead, Brazilian law dictates that only Brazilian-based companies may be penalised. They can’t touch offshore casinos as these all fall outside Brazil’s jurisdiction.

More interestingly, the country’s prohibitive gambling laws do not apply to foreign sites, only to Brazilian enterprises.

Brazil has tried to get around this by demanding that internet service providers block foreign betting sites and prevent Brazilians from processing payments to casinos. However, this has been successfully fought by Brazil’s ISPs and the gambling companies themselves. Very few sites are currently blacklisted, and it is this fight that has made the Brazilian authorities consider legalising and regulating internet gambling at home.

This naturally means that Brazilians are free to gamble at offshore casinos to their heart’s content. Because of this, all those sites are regulated and licensed outside of the country. You should, therefore, be cautious and double-check that any casino you choose to play at is well-regulated, licensed and certified as offering fair play to bettors.

Football betting and sports betting, in general, are immensely popular in Brazil. However, apart from betting on sports, Brazilians do love to have a stab at casino games. Poker is particularly popular with Brazilian players, and it is not uncommon to see Brazilian players engaged in poker tournaments.

Slots, baccarat, roulette, and many other table games are considered games of chance, which are currently forbidden in Brazil. However, Brazil, perhaps erroneously, also includes most other table games – even games as skill – as games of chance, limiting the casino titles players can choose from.

Brazil doesn’t have many software providers operating inside it, but one of the most notable is GammaStack. They provide live dealer software to offshore casinos catering to Brazilian players.

There is no such thing as nationally licensed and regulated online casinos. Any casino that caters to Brazilians will be an offshore betting site. It is likely that they won’t only accept players from Brazil. They will almost always take onboard players from other countries. If you do choose to play at an offshore casino, there are things to look out for.

The best offshore Brazilian casinos will provide gameplay in Portuguese. Moreover, they will accept payments and provide promotions using Brazilian reals. Customer support and live dealer games should also be available in Portuguese, and many sites manage this with ease. Some offshore casinos may not specialise solely in Brazilian players but may span South America as a whole. These are often equally good internet casinos to sign up to and play at if you’re based in Brazil.