Brazil blocks Polymarket, Kalshi
- Brazil’s government said on April 24 it blocked 28 prediction-market companies, including Polymarket and Kalshi, after classifying their contracts as illegal betting. - Finance Minister Dario Durigan said Anatel ordered more than 19,000 internet providers to cut access, while new rules bar event contracts on sports and politics. - The move folds prediction markets into Brazil’s gambling crackdown and tests a model other regulators may copy. (gov.br)
Brazil blocked access to Polymarket, Kalshi and 26 other prediction-market operators on April 24 after classifying their contracts as illegal betting. (gov.br) (finance.yahoo.com) Finance Minister Dario Durigan and Chief of Staff Miriam Belchior announced the move in Brasília, and telecom regulator Anatel said it had sent blocking orders to more than 19,000 internet providers. (gov.br) The Finance Ministry said these platforms let users buy yes-or-no contracts on elections, sports, entertainment and economic events, but in practice operate under the same logic as fixed-odds bets. (gov.br) Brazil paired the site blocks with Resolution No. 5,298, adopted by the National Monetary Council on April 24. The rule bans offering or trading derivatives in Brazil when the underlying event is sports, online gaming, politics, elections, culture or entertainment. (bcb.gov.br) The resolution takes effect on May 4 and also applies to derivatives offered in Brazil even when they are traded abroad. That reaches offshore platforms that had framed event contracts as financial products rather than wagers. (bcb.gov.br) The Finance Ministry said a technical note from the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting, backed by the Attorney General of the National Treasury, gave the government the basis to regulate and police prediction markets as betting activity. (gov.br 1) (gov.br 2) Officials tied the crackdown to a wider campaign against illegal gambling and household over-indebtedness. The ministry said it will use the same tools it uses against unlicensed betting sites, including blocking websites and apps and working with financial institutions to interrupt payments. (gov.br) Brazil’s consumer-protection and betting regulators have already been running a broad enforcement push. In January, the Finance Ministry said the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting had helped block more than 25,000 illegal betting sites over the prior year. (gov.br) Kalshi said it was reviewing the resolution, according to Bloomberg. Polymarket did not immediately respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment. (finance.yahoo.com) For now, Brazil has drawn a bright line: event contracts tied to politics, sports and culture will be treated as bets, not investments. (bcb.gov.br) (gov.br)
