The Ministry of Finance’s Prizes and Betting Secretariat published this Monday (26) Normative Ordinance No. 300 , which provides guidelines and rules for companies that want to be accredited as certifying entities for betting systems, live gaming studios and online games.

The text requires companies to have at least three years of experience in the area. In addition to the rules, the ordinance also contains important definitions for the betting market.

This is the first of twelve ordinances that should be published in the first half of this year to bring greater definitions to the regulation of sports betting in Brazil.

Important definitions

The text published in the Official Gazette of the Union provides the following definitions for the betting market in Brazil:

• 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 game studios and online games used by fixed-odds betting lottery operators, observing the technical requirements established in specific regulations;
• betting system: computerized system managed and made available by operators to bettors that enables bettors to register, manage their virtual wallets and provide other functionalities necessary for the management, operation and marketing of fixed-odds bets;
• operating agent: legal entity authorized by the Ministry of Finance to operate a fixed-odds betting lottery;
• critical components: any component in which a failure or compromise could lead to the loss of the bettor’s rights, loss of revenue for the Union or legal recipients, impediment or difficulties in the regulator’s access to operational information, occurrence of unauthorized access to betting system data, or non-compliance with the rules that regulate the operation of fixed-odds betting in the Country;
• online game: electronic channel that enables virtual betting on a game in which the result is determined by the outcome of a random future event, from a random generator of numbers, symbols, figures or objects defined in the rules system; and
• live gaming studio: a physical environment that uses live video streaming 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.

Requirements

Only certifying entities duly recognized by the Ministry of Finance will be able to issue a specific certificate for Brazil, attesting to full compliance with the technical requirements for betting systems, online and live games.

The certifying entities will have to prove to the Department of Prizes and Bets that they have “a minimum of three years’ professional experience, with national or international references, detailing the work carried out in relation to the certification of betting systems, live gaming studios and games”.

The ordinance also requires that companies that intend to act as certifiers in Brazil have employees in the areas of mathematics; mechanical, electrical and software engineering; compliance; accounting auditing; communications network engineering; quality control; security and cybersecurity audits.

The certifying entities must guarantee the Ministry of Finance access to all documents presented by legal entities interested in obtaining a grant and issue conclusive assessment reports for certification, which must include each test performed, the nonconformities identified and their degree of criticality.

The document contains the terms and documents that must be sent to the Ministry of Finance for the registration of companies as certifying entities. According to the ministry, verification and analysis will be carried out within 30 days.

The ordinance also makes it clear that the license for certifying entities may be cancelled in the event of “non-compliance with established obligations” and “loss of the conditions that led to recognition of operational capacity”.