JogosDeApostas and GameArt facing Brazil’s MP 1,394

Key points

• Announcement: on 20 August 2025, GameArt announced a content partnership with JogosDeApostas.com to strengthen its presence in Brazil.
• Type of site: JogosDeApostas.com is an affiliate site (guides, tips, operator recommendations) that takes no bets.
• Site owner: the address now redirects to JogosDeCassino.com, presented as a product of the Swedish company Leadstar Media.
• Method: between October 2024 and August 2025, GameArt signed four visibility deals with affiliate sites, from Slotjava to JogosDeApostas.com.
• Groundwork: the studio was already working in Brazil with KTO Group, a fast-growing iGaming brand in Brazil according to its December 2023 press release.
• Regulated market: Law No. 14,790/2023 opened the market on 1 January 2025, with five-year authorisations costing up to 30 million reais and a ban on bonuses.
• 2025 figures: around 37 billion reais in gross gaming revenue and 25 million unique bettors, according to the SPA.
• Ban: Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026 of 25 September 2026 outlaws sports betting, online casino games and their advertising. Sites have been offline since 6 October.
• Licences: the 85 authorisations expire on 25 October 2026, with no refund of the 30 million reais paid for each.
• What next: Justice Luiz Fux is expected to rule after the election runoff, Congress must vote by the end of November (the deadline can be extended) and most amendments would save sports betting rather than slots.

GameArt and JogosDeApostas.com: a Brazilian wager overtaken by the betting ban

On 20 August 2025, GameArt placed a new chip on the Brazilian table by announcing a partnership with JogosDeApostas.com, an online guide to betting and casino games. The move extended the double partnership signed nine months earlier with GokkastenOnline and CacaNiquesOnline, whose Brazilian half was already aimed at the same audience. Brazil had opened its regulated market on 1 January 2025, and every provider wanted a seat at the table.

Thirteen months later, the croupier has swept the cards off the table. On 25 September 2026, Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026 (MP) banned the operation, offer, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting in Brazil, online casino games included. Licensed sites had to go dark on 6 October, and their authorisations lapse on 25 October 2026.

What is left of a visibility deal when the shop window looks onto a closed street? To answer it, I'll follow the thread: the announcement, the affiliate, the market, then the ban and what comes next.

What did the 20 August 2025 deal cover?

Nothing spectacular at first glance. The press release published by GameArt runs to just a few paragraphs. In it, the studio says it wants to offer some of its slots through JogosDeApostas.com, strengthen its presence in Brazil and reach a wider audience. It describes its partner as a leading platform that helps players find their way around betting and casino games.

The release paints the site as a classic gaming guide: step-by-step tutorials, tips, recommendations of operators considered safe, explanations of slot mechanics, live casino and current promotions. The two partners committed to sharing content, guides and features built around the studio's games, while promoting responsible and informed play. A page dedicated to GameArt completed the set-up.

That promise still deserves a professional reading. GameArt is an online casino game provider registered in Malta. It has held a B2B licence from the Malta Gaming Authority since 6 February 2023. It never sells a single game round to a player: it distributes its games to casinos, either directly or through aggregators. JogosDeApostas.com, for its part, takes no bets. On a site of this kind, “offering” slots means presenting them, explaining them and sending readers on to operators.

What is a casino affiliate site?

A casino affiliate site is a media outlet that publishes reviews, guides and comparisons, then earns a commission from the operator when a reader signs up and plays. Payment usually takes the form of a fixed amount per referred player (cost per acquisition, or CPA), a share of the revenue that player generates, or a mix of both. The affiliate never holds players' money and runs no games. Its capital is its audience and the trust it earns.

I've been working in iGaming affiliate marketing since 2011, and I know what a provider page on this kind of site is worth. It doesn't spin a single reel. It does something quieter: it plants a name in the player's mind before they even walk through a casino's door. For a B2B provider that never speaks to the public directly, that is a valuable shortcut.

Three habits help you read this type of site with a critical eye:

• Last update: a ranking written before a change in the law may recommend operators that are no longer allowed to operate.
• Advertising disclosure: a serious affiliate states that its links are commercial and that it earns a commission.
• Local licence: an operator is only legal if it is authorised where you live, whatever score a guide gives it.

Who is behind JogosDeApostas.com?

Type jogosdeapostas.com into your browser today and you land on JogosDeCassino.com, a Brazilian Portuguese site (redirect observed on 25 October 2026). Its footer presents it as a product of the Swedish company Leadstar Media. Back in October 2020, this affiliate was already launching its second Brazilian site dedicated to sports betting.

The group therefore knows the local rules from the inside. In an interview with SBC News in March 2024, Felipe Pereira, editorial lead at one of its Brazilian sites, set out what regulation would require from affiliates: the operator's licence number, full terms and conditions, a responsible gambling message and an advertising disclosure. On top of that came the tax rate on winnings, an obligation the group had not faced in any of its other markets.

GameArt and affiliate sites: four deals in ten months

The Brazilian deal was no one-off. Between October 2024 and August 2025, GameArt signed four visibility deals with sites that guide players, each one with a page dedicated to the studio.

One name crops up in more than one announcement. Ola Wallin, presented as VP of Product, speaks for Slotjava and Nuovicasino in October 2024, then for GokkastenOnline and CacaNiquesOnline in the 21 November 2024 announcement. On GameArt's side, Alina Avekse Mathiasen, Head of Product, is quoted in both releases. Same duo, same format: this looks like a method rather than a string of coincidences.

Why would a B2B provider court consumer-facing sites? Because operators stock their game libraries with the titles players ask for, and those players often come across a slot in a guide or a demo before finding it again at a casino. The free demo works as a test room: you gauge the volatility and watch the symbols drop without staking a cent. In Brazil, CacaNiquesOnline (from the Portuguese caça-níqueis, meaning slot machines) had opened the door a crack in November 2024. JogosDeApostas.com was meant to throw it wide open.

Regulated Brazil: an interlude of under two years

It all starts with a founding text. Law No. 14,790 of 29 December 2023 regulated fixed-odds betting and defined online games as a virtual stake on an outcome drawn by a random generator of numbers, symbols or figures: the very definition of a slot machine. Authorisations were granted for five years by the Ministry of Finance and cost up to 30 million reais for three brands. The regulated market opened on 1 January 2025 under the eye of the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas, SPA), with licensed sites operating under the .bet.br domain.

The law had also settled a question that still causes friction elsewhere. Its Article 29 barred operators from granting an advance, a bonus or any prior advantage to encourage betting. Even under regulation, Brazil left no room for welcome offers.

The first annual review gave a sense of the playing field. According to the review presented by the SPA in March 2026, the market generated around 37 billion reais in gross gaming revenue in 2025. It counted 25 million unique bettors identified by their CPF, Brazil's individual taxpayer number, and some 25,000 illegal addresses had been taken down.

Had GameArt laid the groundwork in Brazil?

Yes, and methodically. In December 2023, the studio signed with KTO Group, which its press release described as one of the fastest-growing iGaming brands in Brazil. In March 2024, it joined the Vibra Solutions platform, the arm of Vibra Gaming aimed at Latin American operators. With GameArt's titles, its collection passed the 150-slot mark. July 2024 brought a content-sharing deal with Universal Soft, founded in Peru in 2017.

It was a well-played game. First came operators and platforms to put the games on the tables, then consumer guides to bring players to them. JogosDeApostas.com was meant to be the final card in this Brazilian hand.

What does Brazil's 25 September 2026 provisional measure change?

Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026 is the text the Brazilian government used to ban fixed-odds betting on 25 September 2026. It covers the operation, offer, intermediation and advertising of bets, whether on real sporting events or on online games. The government's announcement explicitly mentions the “jogo do tigrinho” (“little tiger game”), Brazil's nickname for the Fortune Tiger slot. Lotteries provided for by law are outside its scope. The ban also reaches authorisations issued by Brazilian states, as well as foreign companies targeting players in Brazil.

The timetable, set by the measure itself, left players and operators only a few days.

In total, 85 authorisations had been issued at 30 million reais each, or 2.55 billion reais paid to the state. According to the summary published by Agência Senado, offenders face fines of up to 10% of their group's Brazilian revenue, daily penalties and even a ban on operating.

Why did the government close the table?

Brasília chose the public health argument. According to government figures, more than 28 million Brazilians had placed a bet in the twelve months before a 2023 survey, and 10.9 million showed a risky or problematic gambling pattern. A study by IEPS, a Brazilian health policy research institute, puts the annual social cost of betting at 38.8 billion reais, nearly 80% of it health-related. The text also sets out to protect families from debt.

Critics take aim at the method as much as the substance. Two industry associations and one association of mayors have filed three direct actions of unconstitutionality with the Supreme Federal Court (ADI 8024, 8027 and 8028). As the legal analysis by Migalhas points out, they cite legal certainty and free enterprise: an executive act is wiping out a market created by an act of Congress. The rapporteur, Justice Luiz Fux, has postponed his decision until after the second round of the elections on 25 October 2026. On the jobs front, a survey by ANJL, Brazil's national games and lotteries association, counted more than 3,500 layoffs or terminated contracts as of 7 October. As for the illegal market, consultancy LCA Consultores puts its share at between 38% and 44%.

Are slots affected too?

Yes, and this is the point that hits GameArt hardest. The measure targets online games just as it targets sports betting. Worse still for a slot developer, most of the hundred or so amendments tabled in Congress propose saving sports betting while dropping online games, according to an update from iGaming Business. Even if lawmakers soften the text, online casino could stay locked out.

Seen from abroad, the move stands out. Many markets that keep online casino off limits still license sports betting, lotteries or poker. Brazil has switched off both sports betting and online casino in a single stroke.

What happens to the GameArt and JogosDeApostas.com deal?

On paper, it has lost its market. The provisional measure bans advertising and intermediation, which is precisely what an affiliate site does. On 25 October 2026, the JogosDeCassino.com homepage even carried a banner about the MP: the measure already applies, the site warns, but Congress has 120 days to decide whether it becomes law.

For GameArt, the bill reads differently. The provider has built its credibility on compliance, with its Maltese B2B licence and the double ISO certification announced in March 2025 (ISO 9001 for quality, ISO/IEC 27001:2022 for information security). None of that rigour carries any weight against an outright ban. You can hold the best cards, but you still need an open table.

Yet the studio knows the drill when it comes to regulated markets. From its 2021 Lithuanian certification to its games certified for Italy, it has learnt to get its titles approved country by country, with all the cost and patience that involves. Brazil is a reminder of a less comfortable truth: a certification gets you through an inspection, not through a political U-turn.

This whole affair leaves me with a feeling of déjà vu, and Brazil knows this score by heart. On 30 April 1946, Decree-Law No. 9,215 signed by President Eurico Gaspar Dutra had already shut the country's casinos. Eighty years later, the state is closing the table again, this time on screens. An affiliate site never owns its market: it is a tenant, and the lease hangs on a single piece of legislation.

What scenarios lie ahead for GameArt in Latin America?

Three milestones will decide what happens next, and none of them is a foregone conclusion.

• Supreme Federal Court: Justice Luiz Fux must rule on the suspension requests after the second round of the elections.
• Congress: the joint committee had still not been set up at the end of October. Urgency rules apply from 9 November, and the vote is due by the end of November, a deadline that can run to March 2027.
• Bill No. 5,477/2026: tabled alongside the MP, it would turn five types of conduct into criminal offences, punishable by two to six years in prison plus fines.

IBJR, the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming, is asking one question out loud on behalf of operators: if Congress rejects the MP, what happens to authorisations that have already expired? Lawyers writing for Migalhas point to a rule that offers the industry little comfort. Unless Congress passes a legislative decree within sixty days, a rejected provisional measure continues to govern whatever was set in motion while it was in force (Article 62, paragraph 11, of the Constitution). And on 22 October, during a livestream on YouTube, Lula closed the door in his own way: “Não voltará mais a bet” (“the bets are not coming back”).

Latin America is not just Brazil, though. GameArt still has footholds in the region, such as its Peruvian partner Universal Soft or the Vibra Gaming platform, which is open to operators across Latin America. Affiliates, meanwhile, are already on the move: according to accounts gathered by the trade press, some Brazilian teams are heading for Argentina, Chile or Mexico.

No more bets: should the deal be written off?

I'm not so sure. A content partnership costs almost nothing to put on hold, and pages and guides can be switched back on quickly if the game resumes. For that to happen, though, the Supreme Federal Court or Congress would have to overturn a measure that the executive is defending vigorously.

One lesson is already clear for Latin American iGaming: no studio can stake everything on a single country any longer, however vast it may be. GameArt had already grasped this and spread its bets, as my Latin American coverage of the studio shows, from Peru to Brazil. The question is whether the ball will ever land on Brazil again. Place your bets, as the croupier says. In Brasília, for now, the call is no more bets.

FAQs:

What is JogosDeApostas.com?

A Brazilian affiliate site covering betting and casino games: guides, tips and operator recommendations. Its address now redirects to JogosDeCassino.com, presented as a product of the Swedish company Leadstar Media.

What does the deal between GameArt and JogosDeApostas.com involve?

Announced on 20 August 2025, it covers sharing content, guides and features around GameArt's slots, with a page dedicated to the studio and an emphasis on responsible gambling.

Can you play for real money on JogosDeApostas.com?

No. It is an information and affiliate site: it presents games and refers players to operators, without taking any bets.

Is online betting banned in Brazil?

Yes. Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026 of 25 September 2026 bans the operation, offer, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting. Congress still has to convert it into law.

Is online casino also banned in Brazil?

Yes. The measure covers online games, slots included, such as Fortune Tiger, nicknamed the “jogo do tigrinho”.

What happens to operators' licences in Brazil?

The 85 authorisations issued expire on 25 October 2026, with no refund of the 30 million reais paid for each.

Can Brazil's betting ban be lifted?

It is possible. Three challenges are pending before the Supreme Federal Court, and Congress can reject or amend the measure by the end of November 2026, a deadline that can be extended to March 2027.

Are affiliate sites affected by the ban?

Yes. The measure bans the advertising and intermediation of bets, two activities at the heart of affiliate sites targeting Brazil.

Is GameArt an online casino?

No. GameArt is a B2B slot provider registered in Malta and holding a B2B licence from the Malta Gaming Authority. It supplies its games to operators.

Were casino bonuses allowed in Brazil?

No. Even during the regulated period, Article 29 of Law No. 14,790/2023 barred operators from offering a bonus or any prior advantage to encourage betting.

Sources:

• GameArt: partnership announcement with JogosDeApostas.com (20/08/2025)
• GameArt: deal with GokkastenOnline and CacaNiquesOnline (21/11/2024)
• GameArt: deal with Slotjava and Nuovicasino (19/10/2024)
• GameArt: partnership with Betting.bet (04/03/2025)
• Planalto: Law No. 14,790 of 29 December 2023
• SBC Americas: Leadstar Media launches a second site in Brazil (12/10/2020)
• SBC News: Leadstar Media and Brazil's marketing rules (01/03/2024)
• Yogonet: first annual review of the regulated market presented by the SPA (03/03/2026)
• Agência Gov: Lula signs the provisional measure banning betting (25/09/2026)
• Agência Senado: the MP bans betting and sets a 30-day shutdown (28/09/2026)
• Migalhas: what provisional measure 1,394/2026 provides (09/10/2026)
• NEXT.io: more than 3,500 layoffs as job cuts reach affiliates (09/10/2026)
• Focus Gaming News: Lula says betting will not return (23/10/2026)
• iGaming Business: betting operators lose their authorisations on 25 October (24/10/2026)