Brazil's Federal Prosecution Service (MPF) and the Federal Revenue Service launched Operation Jogo de Sombras (Game of Shadows) on Friday (28) to investigate suspected tax evasion, illegal currency transfers and money laundering linked to fixed-odds sports betting platforms, known in Brazil as bets. Agents served six search and seizure warrants in João Pessoa (Paraíba), Recife (Pernambuco) and São Paulo, with no arrest requests. According to G1's reporting, the targeted addresses are linked to the NSX group, owner of the BetNacional platform, which investigators say moved more than R$ 5 billion (about US$ 1 billion) in 2025 alone.
According to the MPF, there are indications that the group set up a shell company in Curaçao, in the Caribbean, to simulate that the platform operated outside Brazil before the sector was regulated, while Brazilian companies tied to the group were allegedly running the actual activities in the country. Investigators are also examining suspected transfers of funds abroad followed by the return of part of the money as payments for services, a model that could be used to justify bringing back resources previously sent overseas. Another line of inquiry is the possible use of pooled accounts that concentrate funds from different clients in a single account, which can make it harder to trace the final beneficiaries. The MPF and the Revenue Service say the suspicions extend beyond the pre-regulation period: they are checking whether old structures were adapted to keep tax evasion mechanisms running under the new rules.
Alongside the warrants, the Revenue Service opened 11 tax proceedings to deepen the investigation, with potential tax recovery estimated at around R$ 300 million. The Prizes and Betting Secretariat of the Finance Ministry is assessing which technical measures it may take against the group under investigation. According to ministry officials heard by G1, the company already faces two ongoing administrative proceedings, and penalties under the sector's legislation range from a warning to suspension of activities.
Case timeline
- 2025: the year in which, according to investigators, the platform moved more than R$ 5 billion;
- August 13, 2026: Operation Arena, the first major joint action by the Revenue Service and the MPF against the betting market this month, serves 17 warrants in five states, with a court order allowing the seizure of up to R$ 1 billion in assets;
- August 28, 2026: Operation Jogo de Sombras is launched, with six search and seizure warrants in three cities, followed by a press conference at the Finance Ministry headquarters in Brasília.
In a statement, NSX Brasil said it received the Revenue Service's visit at its Recife office and gave "full cooperation to the action, making the requested documents available." The company said that before the sector's specific regulation it operated "in accordance with the legal framework then in force and with the practices adopted by the market," and that after the new rules took effect it "made the necessary adjustments and now strictly complies" with the law. So far, the operation has produced no criminal charges, and no suspect has been found guilty: the case is in an evidence-gathering phase.
The details were presented at a press conference with the head of the Federal Revenue Service, Robinson Barreirinhas, and the national coordinator of Gaeco, the MPF's organized crime task force, Deputy Prosecutor-General José Adonis Callou de Araújo Sá, among other authorities. The next steps are the analysis of the seized material, the progress of the Revenue Service's 11 tax proceedings and a decision by the Prizes and Betting Secretariat on possible administrative sanctions. No deadline was announced by the authorities.