Brazil Banks to Return R$1.325B to 26.5M Bettors

An October 6 federal government update put the remaining balance at R$1.325 billion after the voluntary withdrawal window closed at 23:59 on October 5. Operators now have until October 7 to send banks each bettor’s remaining balance, CPF and the bank account used for deposits.

The Ministry of Finance’s repayment rules require operators to report the same final balances through Sigap. They must also identify the financial institutions holding transactional accounts and confirm when the payment data was passed on.

A straight division of the remaining money by the 26.5 million bettors gives an average of R$50 ($10.06) per person. That average does not describe how the money is distributed, however. The government said unusually high balances will be reviewed for possible money laundering and links to organised crime.

86.2M Accounts Hold Less Than R$1

The new dataset also lists 86.2 million player accounts with balances from R$0.01 to R$0.99. Together, they hold R$15.5 million ($3.1 million). One bettor can have accounts with several operators, so the account total is far above the number of people awaiting refunds.

On 15M’s calculation, those sub-R$1 accounts represent only about 1.2% of the R$1.325 billion still to be returned. Their average balance is roughly R$0.18.

Banks Take Over the Refund Process

The refund stage now sits outside the betting sites themselves. Financial institutions are scheduled to send the money back from October 9 through October 14. If a payment cannot be completed, the remaining amount moves to Caixa Econômica Federal from October 14 for further restitution.

The shutdown itself was nearly complete by the time the government published the new figures. Of 188 previously authorised betting sites, only one was still operating. That puts the offline share at about 99.5%, based on the government count.

Dollar equivalents in this article use the Banco Central do Brasil October 6 PTAX closing selling rate of R$4.9698 per $1 and are rounded.