Apple and Google pulled betting apps from their stores in Brazil after a provisional measure banning fixed-odds betting took effect. Globo Online tracked 15 apps that had been operating legally in the country, all of them available on Monday and none findable on either store the next morning.
Searches for operator names or queries such as 'bet' and 'casino' returned only slot simulators with no cash payouts and card games. Users could still install apps on Monday even though deposits and bets were already blocked. Screens carried notices about the provisional measure, some of them stating outright that accounts could not be topped up.
Refunds
Platforms held R$1.33 billion ($264.9 million) by mid-day Monday. The government allowed apps to stay until the end of Monday, the deadline for voluntary withdrawal of funds, and it expired at 23:59.
The measure banned fixed-odds betting operations and their advertising, and set a timetable for closing platforms and returning money to users. Bookmakers had to stop from midnight on 6 October. On 7-8 October companies must hand banks each user's balances by CPF, the tax number, and banks are to return the money between 9 and 14 October. Most apps still sitting on devices redirected users to brasilsembets.com.br, a government page with refund instructions and material on gambling risks.
Pushback
The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) called the measure electoral and legally invalid, and advised operators not to comply. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's government introduced the ban nine days before the first round of the election, following earlier regulation of the industry. Lula took fewer votes than expected and his opponent Flávio Bolsonaro came out ahead.
