Brazil: Irregular Finance Minister´s data was registered on a betting site

In a letter sent to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, Haddad reported at the end of last year that when he consulted the platform, he realised that some data was missing or invalid, and that his CPF was already in use.

The case was notified as a complaint of violation of the LGPD (General Data Protection Law). The law allows citizens to demand clear information from public and private companies about what data has been collected, how it is stored and for what purpose it is used.

In the letter sent to the then Minister of Justice, Flavio Dino, Haddad asked for an enquiry to be launched by the PF.

Pixbet is a Brazilian sportsbook from Paraná, known for its agile transactions. Depositing via Pix on the site is quick. In some rare cases, it can take up to an hour.

Sports betting companies accredited in Paraná only operate in the territory of the state and maintain location locks for users. Today, five sports betting sites are active in the jurisdiction of Paraná and are regulated: Apostou.com, Bplay, Aposta.la, Pixbet and Nossabet.
Pixbet requires that the Pix key used for deposits and withdrawals from the site be linked to the same CPF as when registering on the platform, i.e. it does not allow users to withdraw funds to third party accounts.

A STF (Supreme Federal Court) decision in 2020 boosted the operation of state lotteries, which are also growing in online format. Rio and Paraná are the most advanced in this type of accreditation.

In January this year, the Lula government created the Secretariat for Prizes and Betting, linked to the Ministry of Finance, responsible for regulating and monitoring the betting and online gaming market.

At the same time, Haddad's department intends to create its own extension for sportsbook and online casino websites in Brazil. The intention is to open the ‘.bet’ domain, which will be used exclusively by companies in the sector and will come before ‘.br’ in URLs.

The ministry has already informally consulted NIC.br (Ponto BR Information and Coordination Centre), the body of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee responsible for creating domains in the country.

If the idea goes ahead, as the Ministry's team intends, only bookmakers authorised to operate will have to use the ‘.bet’ extension.

The issue of betting on games has once again been the subject of discussion in recent months following accusations of fraud and manipulation of football matches for the benefit of bettors. The issue led to the creation of the CPI on Sports Betting, chaired by Senator Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO), which is expected to investigate more than 100 matches that took place in 2023.