Brazil's Finance Ministry cancels SPA officials' trips to IAGR Lima conference

Brazil's Secretariat of Prizes and Betting at the Finance Ministry (SPA-MF) has cancelled the participation of two of its senior officials in the IAGR Annual Conference 2026, the annual conference of the International Association of Gaming Regulators, which begins this week in Lima, Peru. A notice signed by secretary Daniele Correa Cardoso and published in the Official Gazette on 19 October revoked the travel authorisations granted on 3 September. The notice gave no reason for the cancellation.

The decision affects deputy secretary Fabio Augusto Macorin, who was due to speak on the panel "O Mandato do Regulador em um Mercado Conectado" from 18 to 23 October, including travel time, at the Union's expense (Processo SEI nº 19995.012951/2026-41). The trip of Leandro dos Reis Lucchesi, the secretariat's general coordinator for regulation, who was to take part in the same panel from 19 to 23 October, was also cancelled (Processo SEI nº 19995.013481/2026-33). The original notices were published in the Official Gazette on 3 September 2026. The cancellation was formalised while the authorised period for Macorin's trip was already under way.

Macorin was elected in September to the IAGR Board of Directors as the representative for South America. At the time, association president Ben Haden said Brazil had carried out "uma ambiciosa transformação regulatória em um período extraordinariamente curto" and that Macorin's experience would be valuable to regulators in the global community. Macorin said Brazil had learned from regulators around the world in building its regulatory framework, and that combating the illegal market, preventing money laundering and protecting consumers require growing cooperation between countries. His participation in the Lima conference had been announced by the IAGR.

The travel authorisation and Macorin's election both took place before Provisional Measure nº 1.394 of 25 September 2026, with which the government of President Lula banned fixed-odds betting in the country, less than two years after the regulated market began operating in January 2025. With the measure, the SPA-MF has taken on the restitution of balances to bettors and the winding down of authorised operations. BNLData reported that, in its assessment, the cancellation is directly linked to the betting ban, and that after the measure the government would have had to explain to an international forum why it had ended by provisional measure the market it had structured.

The IAGR conference has the theme "Mãos firmes, terreno em transformação: avançando na regulação em um mundo conectado" and discusses strengthening cooperation between jurisdictions amid changes in technology, markets and risks in the gaming and betting sector.