On May 8th, Apple updated its policy on its developer website: In Brazil, as long as a gambling app holds a fixed-odds gambling license issued by the Brazilian Ministry of Finance's Secretariat for Prizes and Gambling (SPA), it can be listed on the App Store. The rule also added that if developers select "gambling" in the age rating questionnaire, the app's age rating will automatically be adjusted to "A18".

This adjustment is not an isolated incident. Gambling apps have always been one of the most sensitive categories of content in the Apple ecosystem, and this relaxation is more like an adaptation by Apple to the Brazilian market, while also echoing the Brazilian government's overall direction of promoting "legalized regulation."

Looking back at the situation in Brazil, we can see that the problems had been accumulating for a long time.

After 1946, brick-and-mortar casinos were banned in Brazil for a long period. However, with the advent of the internet age, sports betting, online betting, and various gambling games spread rapidly. Many platforms are registered overseas, acquiring customers through websites, APK downloads, and social media advertising, and then completing the flow of funds through local payment channels.

The problem is that there is almost no unified regulation.

The result is:
The government doesn't collect much tax revenue;
The risk of exposure to minors is very high;
Gambling addiction is becoming more widespread;
A large amount of capital flows also exist in a gray area.

Over time, this industry has become a large-scale "gray market".

The turning point came at the end of 2023. President Lula signed Law No. 14,790, formally establishing a regulatory framework for fixed-odds betting. By 2025, the SPA, under the Ministry of Finance, began issuing licenses nationwide. These licenses were not granted arbitrarily; rather, operators were required to:

• Real-name verification

• Anti-money laundering mechanism

• User protection measures

• Responsible Gambling Obligations

• Use a unified and compliant domain name system

The overall approach is clear: since online gambling is difficult to completely eliminate, it should simply be brought under regulation to make it "legally exist + traceable + taxable".

However, this approach has been controversial within Brazil. The finance ministry generally supports legal regulation, arguing practically: gambling already exists, and rather than letting the underground market run rampant, it's better to incorporate it into the tax system while simultaneously controlling the flow of funds. Some industry research institutions have even estimated that Brazil's regulated gambling market could generate billions of dollars in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in its first year.

But voices on the other side are less optimistic. The education sector, social conservatives, and some members of the ruling coalition are increasingly worried that the social problems stemming from the expansion of gambling may be worsening.

In April of this year, President Lula even publicly stated that the government "may have made a mistake on the gambling issue" because an increasing number of low-income families are falling into online gambling debts. Following this, ruling party lawmaker Pedro Uczai submitted a bill attempting to tighten restrictions on online gambling and advertising. Some have even directly called slot machine games like "Tigrinho" "digital drugs," arguing that their high-frequency stimulation and instant feedback mechanisms easily lead to addiction among young people.

Against this backdrop of debate, platform providers have been thrust into the spotlight. Google actually acted earlier. By 2025, Google Play already allowed licensed gambling and casino apps to be listed, but only if they provided a federal license and met local regulatory requirements. Apple, on the other hand, has remained more cautious.

In April 2026, the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Public Security officially notified Apple and Google, demanding an explanation as to why a large number of unauthorized gambling apps still existed on their platforms.

Regulators specifically named slot machine games, believing that these products:

• Lack of effective age verification

• Minors can easily access

• Relying on high-frequency reward mechanisms

• It has a significant risk of addiction.

• Some operators even have unclear identities.

The regulatory authorities also directly demanded that the platforms explain: How exactly do you vet gambling operators? How are licenses verified? Why are illegal applications allowed to exist for so long?

Around the same time, the Brazilian Congress also began pressuring Apple. Some lawmakers took a direct stance: not to encourage gambling, but because they believed that if legitimate gambling platforms couldn't enter the iOS ecosystem, users would only continue to flock to underground websites and illegal apps. Thus, a "two-track approach" gradually took shape:

On one hand, there's the push to bring legitimate markets into app stores, payment systems, and advertising systems, while simultaneously incorporating taxation and regulation;
On the other hand, there is a continued crackdown on illegal gambling websites and unauthorized platforms.

The Apple policy update you saw at the beginning is actually one of the results of this "legitimization path".

At the same time, Brazil's Ministry of Finance is also cracking down on the illegal market—it has already banned tens of thousands of unauthorized gambling websites and begun taking action against some prediction market platforms, citing their potential involvement in unlicensed gambling activities and the risk of money laundering.

For Apple, this step is not easy. Allowing gambling apps to operate in the open means that platforms will have more complex compliance responsibilities and may face more associated legal risks. In fact, there have been numerous lawsuits in the United States that have named both the platforms and the gambling apps as co-defendants.

Therefore, it's too early to say how things will develop. But what is certain is that in Brazil, gambling is gradually being pushed from the "gray area" into the "regulatory framework," although societal disagreements on this issue are far from over.