After 70 years, the Brazilian legislative landscape is changing in a big way. We’re expecting to see some big movements over the next year. For the time being, online gambling, while being quite prominent in the country, it is not regulated. This is not necessarily a bad thing – you just need to know where to play. We take a look at Brazil’s gambling history and detail the best sites to spend the Brazilian Real at.
Online gambling sites accepting Brazilians
There are hundreds of offshore online casinos and betting sites, but only a few have a solid reputation. These sites have earned good reviews from real punters and many are in the Portuguese. A lot of the sites also accept BRL as an available gambling currency.
Jackpot City Casino: Can’t make it to Vegas? Head online to JPC for a luxurious gambling experience and set the language to Portuguese. Featuring slots, blackjack, roulette, baccarat, video poker, casual games and more by Microgaming, Brazilian players will be able to find a premier game of choice. There’s also the live dealer catalogue by Evolution Gaming. Dealers are set up in studios around the world and streamed in real time so you can get a land-based casino experience as you gamble with the Brazilian Real.
Leo Vegas: Leo Vegas is considered to be the best mobile casino on the web. While we concur, the desktop isn’t too shabby either. Irrespective of your device, you can find slots by Microgaming, NetEnt, BetSoft and more as well as table games. The live dealer catalogue is the best as there are a number of providers on offer. We recommend joining a live table direct from Malta’s popular Portomaso casino.
Rizk: If you like promotions – see below – you should opt for Rizk online casino. It features the Wheel of Rizk where new players score a free spin upon sign up. You can win cash or free spins to use on the huge array of NetEnt and BetSoft slots. There’s also ongoing promotions to enter and win.
Royal Vegas Casino: Also powered by Microgaming, this online casino offers a Netflix-style instant platform – or you can download the casino client. Select Portuguese as your preferred language and play in BRL on the table games, video poker titles, scratch cards, slots and more.
BetOnline: This bookmaker cross online casino only accepts the USD but if this works well, it is an ideal site to have a flutter. Place a wager on the available basketball, football, or MMA markets and then spin the reels or place a few rounds of live dealer blackjack. BetOnline has also replaced its live dealer provider following speculation a dealer from its former provider cheated.
Major bookmakers which offer international sporting and horse racing markets also accept Brazilian punters including;
- mybet
- 5Dimes
- 888Sport
- Bet365
- Betway
- Betfred
- Paddy Power
- Sportsbet
- William Hill
Promotions
All reputable online casinos and betting sites offer fair welcome bonuses and other offers to reward their players. You can confirm they’re reputable by reading the terms and conditions attached. We recommend doing this before opting in for any promotion.
Brazilians can opt in for welcome bonuses, such as matched deposits when signing up to the site and any offers once a member.
Payment methods for Brazilian punters
Brazilians may find they have trouble using credit and debit cards at gambling sites – this will change when the law does. You can risk it or you can opt for an alternative payment method.
Bank transfers are a secure way to make a deposit and withdrawal, but they can take their time. You may want to pay the fee for an instant bank transfer or, again, find an alternative method.
We recommend web wallets. These allow you to fund your casino account with the e-Wallet account details. Neteller and Skrill both are available in Brazil. We recommend Neteller in this instance as it accepts BRL. Gamblers can fund the web wallet via a personal account and make a deposit at all the online casinos and betting sites listed above.
If you have any problems with these payment methods, Bitcoin is another great choice. You can purchase Bitcoins with cash, online and at land-based outlets and then deposit at compatible sites – BetOnline is one.
Gambling laws in Brazil
Most games of chance in Brazil are illegal at the time of writing but legislative changes are moving to legalise and regulate the industry.
The Criminal Contravention Act of 1941 is the main piece of legislation which bans all games of chance including sports betting.
Land-based casinos were legal in the country until 1946 when a decree was issued. However, the 26 states do have the monopoly over whether gambling is illegal and can pass laws to legalise specific games.
Since the laws were enacted before computers, online gambling isn’t mentioned and is unregulated in Brazil. It is assumed as illegal but many participate in online gambling at offshore sites and no player has ever been prosecuted for playing here.
There were many efforts made to introduce legislation which would force payment processors to block transactions, but they all failed. Instead, the government is looking to expand the industry by regulating Internet gambling as well as sports betting, land-based casinos, and bingo halls.
We will update this page if and when the legislation is passed and detail any movements within the Brazilian gambling industry, including if sports betting is legalised.
Football is the most popular sport in Brazil and it makes sense Brazilians want to bet on the game. The national team are world champions and is comprised of some of the best players in the world. Martial Arts and MMA are also incredibly popular betting markets, and sometimes there is the option for Brazilians to bet on fighters at land-based events.
Horse racing is exempt from the Criminal Contravention Act, with the Grande Premio race held in São Paulo attracting punters from all over the country who can legally have a flutter.