Brazilian court orders Pixbet, Flabet, and Bet da Sorte suspended over minor-access failures

A children's and youth court in Campina Grande has directed that three licensed Brazilian betting brands — Pixbet, Flabet, and Bet da Sorte — be taken offline nationwide until their operator demonstrates robust age-gating measures are in place.

The ruling, handed down on 14 July by Judge João Lucas of the Campina Grande District Juvenile Court, applies to all platforms run by Pixbet Soluções Tecnológicas Ltda and will remain in effect until the company convinces the court it has installed systems that effectively bar children and adolescents from registering or using the sites.

The order stems from a public civil action originally brought by the Padre Ezequiel Ramin Human Rights Defence Center, the Francisco de Assis Association for Education, Citizenship, Inclusion and Human Rights, and Father Júlio Renato Lancellotti. They alleged the platforms lacked adequate safeguards to keep minors from signing up and wagering.

In his decision, Judge Lucas underscored that Brazil’s Constitution and the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA) afford children and adolescents comprehensive protection, a principle reinforced by the “Digital ECA” framework, which expressly requires providers to block minors from accessing games and betting services.

“Daily experience and online news reports demonstrate that children and adolescents continue to access betting platforms with relative ease,” the ruling observed, noting that minors often use the CPF numbers of parents or guardians “without any effective biometric verification at the time of registration or during subsequent transactions.”

The judge cited Ordinance No. 73/2026, issued jointly by the Ministries of Finance and Justice and the National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon), which obliges betting companies to adopt effective access-prevention measures and bans advertising directed at minors.

Pixbet was given 48 hours from notification to suspend its operations across Brazil. Lifting the ban requires the company to prove it has deployed technological safeguards deemed effective by the court, such as facial recognition with a liveness check at every login and for each financial transaction. The operator must also perform biometric verification cross-referenced with official databases and automatically block any registration using a minor’s tax ID.

Noncompliance carries a daily fine of BRL 100,000 (roughly $19,561), capped at BRL 100 million. The ruling further mandates that Brazil’s national telecoms agency, Anatel, be notified to enforce a block if the order is ignored, and that the Secretariat for Prizes and Bets and the National Data Protection Authority be alerted to take any additional steps within their remits.