The ban on betting in Brazil has brought an important technical consequence: fixed-odds betting sites and apps will have to stop offering the service, and platforms that continue to operate may be blocked.
Measure No. 1,394/2026, published on September 25, 2026, establishes mechanisms to block or redirect these services. Anatel participates in the distribution of orders to the agents responsible for the connection, while CGI.br appears specifically in the determinations related to the resolution of names registered under .br.
But for companies and IT teams, an important question arises:
If these sites are going to be blocked nationally, does it still make sense to control the betting category within the company's network?
Yes. They are controls with different objectives.
Regulatory blocking aims to make services unavailable that are affected by official regulations. Corporate browsing filtering, on the other hand, allows each organization to establish its own internet access policy, regardless of what is or is not blocked externally.
That's the difference we're going to explain.
What changed with the ban on betting?
MP 1.394/2026 prohibited the operation, offering, intermediation, and advertising of so-called fixed-odds betting throughout the national territory.
The rule includes sports betting and online games and also applies to operators based abroad when the service is offered to people located in Brazil. Other lottery modalities authorized by law were not covered by the prohibition.
According to the schedule released by the Federal Government, new investments in the platforms were prohibited on September 25th, and from October 6th, 2026, the websites and apps will no longer be able to offer these bets.
The measure has been in effect since its publication, but it will still be processed by Congress. As the Chamber of Deputies explains regarding the functioning of Provisional Measures, a Provisional Measure has the force of law immediately, but it needs to be approved by Congress to be definitively converted into law and may undergo changes during this process.
How will betting sites be blocked?
The new measure stipulates that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security may request the blocking or redirection of websites that continue to offer fixed-odds betting.
Anatel enters the process by distributing the directives to the agents responsible for connectivity.
To understand the scale of this operation, it's worth looking at what was already happening before the new ban.
Data presented by Anatel to the Chamber of Deputies shows that 17,876 betting sites were blocked in 2025.By March 20, 2026, the accumulated total had already reached 34,152 sites.
In December 2025, representatives from Anatel (the Brazilian telecommunications agency) reported at a hearing in the Chamber of Deputies that more than 25,000 illegal websites had been blocked between 2024 and 2025.
By April 2026, the number had already surpassed 39,000 blocked unauthorized websites. In the same operation against prediction platforms, Anatel notified approximately 19,000 internet service providers to interrupt access to the specified domains.
These numbers illustrate an important technical point:
Blocking betting on a large scale doesn't just mean preventing access to a few well-known brands. It's necessary to deal with thousands of domains that can change continuously.
Will the blocking of bets be done via DNS?
DNS can be part of the strategy, but the new rule does not mandate that all blocking be done exclusively in this way.
This precaution is important to avoid oversimplifying how the internet works.
DNS is the system responsible for transforming names like example.com into the addresses needed to locate the servers for that service. Therefore, it can function as an efficient point for applying blocking policies.
However, Anatel was already discussing other mechanisms.
In a hearing before the Chamber of Deputies in December 2025, the agency reported that blocking orders were being sent to approximately 17,000 telecommunications providers and highlighted difficulties involving different infrastructures and workaround techniques, such as VPNs. In the same discussion, the agency advocated for expanding its scope of action to include structures such as CDNs and public DNS services.
Therefore, the blockage may involve different points in the infrastructure.
For those who want to better understand why DNS can be used as a control layer, we already have comprehensive content explaining what DNS security is in companies and another showing how DNS filtering protects a company's internet in practice.
We don't need to repeat all that technical explanation here.
If providers block bets, why should the company maintain its own control?
Because regulatory blockades and corporate navigation policies solve different problems.
| Regulatory roadblock | Corporate control |
|---|---|
| It complies with an official directive | It complies with the policy defined by the organization |
| It acts on services achieved by the order | It can cover various content categories |
| It is not configured by the user company | It is managed by the IT team itself |
| Seeks to make a particular service unavailable | It can combine security, productivity, and governance |
| It does not replace internal navigation rules | It allows policies to be adapted to the organization's reality |
Imagine that a certain betting platform is blocked by the provider.
This does not mean that the company has adopted a policy for games, social media, streaming, adult content, malicious websites, or other categories.
It also doesn't mean that the IT team has gained visibility into the access attempts made on the network itself.
That's exactly where the two controls diverge.
Is the company obligated to block betting for employees?
The provisional measure does not establish a general obligation requiring all Brazilian companies to install filters to prevent their employees from accessing gambling websites.
Therefore, it would not be correct to interpret the new rule as if an SME could be automatically fined because an employee tried to access a betting site.
For companies in general, restricting online gambling remains primarily a decision related to internal policies regarding internet usage, security, productivity, and governance.
If the question is which categories an organization should block or allow, we have already addressed this issue in depth in the article " Internet access control in companies: what to block and what to allow?"
This way we avoid turning this document into just another generic access control guide.
Where does DNS filtering come into play for a company?
DNS filtering allows an organization to apply its own rules to the domains it accesses.
For example, a company might decide to block the Betting and Gambling category regardless of whether or not there is a national injunction against that particular domain
This also applies to other categories.
The policy can differentiate, for example, a Marketing department that needs to access social media from an administrative team that does not use these platforms at work.
But this article doesn't need to explain all the workings of this technology again.
We have a specific guide on corporate DNS filtering, its operation and application in companies and MSPs, as well as a guide on how to block inappropriate websites in the company for those looking for a more practical approach.
The relevant point here is something else:
A national blackout does not eliminate the need for an organization to manage its own internet policy.
Why does the number of new domains matter?
This is perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the discussion from a technical point of view.
When only one domain needs to be blocked, creating a rule is relatively simple.
The problem arises when a service starts using different domains or when new addresses related to the same activity emerge.
The growth from over 17,000 blocked domains during 2025 to accumulated numbers close to 39,000 reported in April 2026 helps to illustrate the dynamics of this scenario.
This creates a cycle:
Identification → Classification → Blocking → Emergence of new domains → Updating the rules.
For a company, trying to maintain extensive lists manually tends to generate operational work.
That's why filtering platforms typically work with domain classification and policies by category, in addition to manual lists for blocking or allowing exceptions.
What changes for MSPs?
For an MSP, the news should not be interpreted simply as a new category to block.
The most important point is the need to manage consistent access policies across multiple clients, without relying on manual configurations in each environment.
A customer might want to block betting and gambling. A school might apply different rules to students and staff. Another company might allow social media access only for specific teams.
This operational issue is already discussed in detail in our article on corporate DNS filtering for businesses and MSPs, including centralized management, policies, reports, and different deployment scenarios.
In this article about betting, one conclusion is clear:
The regulatory change reinforces the importance of being able to amend navigation policies quickly and centrally when new needs arise.
And what changes for internet providers?
For service providers, the relationship with the change is more direct.
Blocking orders had already been sent to thousands of service providers, and Anatel acknowledges that executing these orders in a market comprised of providers of very different sizes and infrastructures presents technical challenges.
With the new rule, providers must pay close attention to the technical guidelines published by Anatel regarding the implementation of the regulations.
This includes observing what information will be provided, how orders will be distributed, and what techniques can be used for fulfillment.
For providers, therefore, the issue is not just about "blocking bets." It is also a matter of network operation and compliance with blocking orders on a large scale.
Blocking betting is just one part of internet governance
The discussion about betting is in the spotlight because there has been a significant regulatory change.
For a company, however, the broader question remains:
Who decides how the corporate internet can be used?
When there is no internal policy, the organization ends up depending on what is blocked by the provider, the existing settings on each device, and the individual decisions of the users.
A navigation control strategy allows you to transform these decisions into clear rules.
This doesn't mean blocking everything.
In fact, a good policy should balance the need for work, security, and operational freedom.
We have already addressed this topic in depth in the article on DNS blocking and filtering without turning control into abusive surveillance , and also in our content on the risks that corporate internet users face daily.
This content complements this discussion better than repeating the same concepts here.
How does Lumiun DNS fit into this scenario?
Lumiun Lumiun DNS is a DNS security and browsing filtering solution for businesses, schools, and MSPs.
Among the available policies is the Betting and Gambling, which can be blocked as needed by the organization.
The company can also use different policies for groups, devices, and environments, as well as track queries and blocks.
This means that corporate policy remains under the organization's control, regardless of whether certain areas are already externally blocked.
For those who want to understand the technology first before evaluating a solution, we recommend starting with our content on DNS security in businesses.
For those who already understand the concept and want to evaluate its practical application, the article "How DNS filtering protects your company's internet" is the next step.
Conclusion
The ban on betting sites puts the nationwide blocking of websites back at the center of the discussion about internet infrastructure.
The figures already released by Anatel show that this process can involve tens of thousands of domains and thousands of providers, in addition to technical mechanisms that are not necessarily limited to DNS.
For companies, however, the main conclusion is simpler:
A block implemented outside the organization does not replace a corporate internet usage policy.
The company still needs to decide which categories make sense in its environment, which users need exceptions, and how security and productivity will be balanced.
Betting is just one of those categories.
The goal of a navigation filtering strategy is to give the organization the ability to define and manage these rules in its own centralized way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have betting operations been banned in Brazil?
Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026 prohibited the operation, offering, intermediation, and advertising of fixed-odds betting in the national territory. The text includes sports betting and online games.
When should betting sites be taken offline?
The official schedule published by the Federal Government stipulates that websites and apps will stop offering betting starting October 6, 2026.
Will the blocking of bets be done via DNS?
Not necessarily. DNS is one possible layer, but different infrastructure mechanisms can participate in the process. Anatel has already publicly discussed blocking measures involving providers, CDNs, and DNS services.
Do companies need to block betting for employees?
The bill does not establish a general obligation for ordinary companies to install gambling filters for their employees. Adopting this control can be part of the organization's internal browsing policy.
If the bets are already blocked by the provider, does it still make sense to block them in the company's filter?
These are different objectives. Regulatory blocking complies with official regulations. Corporate filtering allows for maintaining a separate policy for betting and other categories, as well as applying rules according to users, groups, or devices.
How can a company block gambling websites?
One alternative is to apply a policy by category using DNS filtering. For a more comprehensive step-by-step guide on methods, advantages, and limitations, see our guide on how to block inappropriate websites in your company.
