Federal Police create division against illegal gambling
On the same Friday that Lula signed the measure that outlawed fixed-odds betting, the Director-General of the Federal Police sent a document to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security with another decision: to create a division dedicated exclusively to prosecuting illegal gambling.
The request bears the signature of Andrei Rodrigues and, according to the internal document accessed by Folha, already has the president's approval. Government sources clarify that the reorganization had been discussed since before the provisional measure was signed, so the two things coincided in the calendar rather than in causation. The process now continues at the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services.
The betting division does not come alone. The proposed organizational chart adds a Division for the Repression of Sports Match-Fixing (Divisão de Repressão à Manipulação de Resultados Esportivos), specifically dedicated to sports match-fixing, and a Doctrine and Training Division (Divisão de Doutrina e Capacitação), in addition to an administrative support sector and a strategic management core.
Above all this, a larger structure is being assembled. The plan creates the General Coordination for the Repression of Money Laundering and Asset Recovery (Coordenação-Geral de Repressão à Lavagem de Dinheiro e Recuperação de Ativos), which will fall under Dicor, the directorate that currently concentrates investigations into Banco Master and INSS fraud. Inside, two coordinations will operate: one for financial intelligence and money laundering, which will include a specific service to investigate money laundering with virtual assets, and another for asset recovery, responsible for asset investigation, the management of seized assets, and also their sale and final destination.
The change is one of hierarchy rather than existence. Today, the repression of money laundering and asset recovery operate in structures with a rank lower than that of coordination. If the Government approves the proposal, these areas will move up several steps within the force's organizational chart.
Rodrigues explained the objective in terms of concentration. What he seeks, he wrote, is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the force to economically confront organized crime, placing under a single central structure the repression of money laundering, financial intelligence, asset investigation, and asset recovery, in addition to combating illegal betting and match-fixing. The idea is to bring the production of financial information closer to the concrete work of identifying, locating, seizing, managing, and finally disposing of assets.
In total, the proposal creates 17 new administrative units and reuses three existing structures under the CGRC, the general coordination that currently represses corruption, financial crimes, and money laundering. The estimated monthly budgetary impact is only R$44.9 thousand.
The force is not starting from scratch in this area. The Ministry of Justice reported on Tuesday that it has already requested the blocking of 5,209 betting sites that began operating illegally after the measure, and specified that the Federal Police has been investigating illegal gambling schemes and match-fixing for three years. Between March 2023 and August 2026, it launched 12 operations linked to these practices, which resulted in at least 73 search warrants and 15 arrests, with cases opened in Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Goiás, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraíba, and the Federal District. In the same period, it requested the judiciary to seize R$4.17 billion in assets and securities. Internationally, it participates in an Interpol task force against sports match-fixing.
The contrast between two figures illustrates the magnitude of the new scenario. On September 26, one day after the measure was published, the Government had detected 506 sites with indications of irregular offerings. Nine days later, the request for blocking reached 5,209. This curve is what the new division will have to face from the moment it exists.
Tags: Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, illegal gambling suppression, sports match-fixing