YouTube introduces crucial update to protect Brazilian players
SNAEDE secretary Giovanni Rocco hails a "victory for the Ministry of Sports" after watchdog's investigation leads to banning of 53 YouTube accounts
Giovanni Rocco, secretary for Brazil’s Secretariat for Sports Betting and Economic Development of Sports (SNAEDE), has hailed the update to YouTube’s guidelines on gambling-related content.
The update, effective from 19 March, sees URLS, embedded links in images and texts, as well as visual displays and verbal references, for any unregulated gambling operators in Brazil added to the banned list for directing customers to external sites.
As it stands, YouTube does not allow “any method of directing viewers to gambling sites or applications that are not certified by Google”.
YouTube now prohibits videos that give viewers “false promises of profit”, with the video-sharing platform’s guidelines condemning content that promises a viewer “guaranteed returns via online gambling, regardless of whether the site is approved or not”.
The platform also stated that any betting advertising should only be linked to websites authorised by the Brazilian government.
Said websites must include the “.bet.br” domain, as per Brazil’s gaming regulations.
Rocco hailed the move as a crucial step for ensuring the protection of players in the Brazilian market.
He said: “This is a victory for the Ministry of Sports, SNAEDE and the courage of Minister André Fufuca, who took this complaint forward.
“This result represents progress in protecting the most vulnerable families, who end up being deceived by scammers disguised as digital influencers.”
Rocco’s comments come after the Ministry of Sport, through SNAEDE, sent a letter to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security last November calling for the accounts and channels to be shut down after misleading viewers by promoting “bets with false promises of profit”.
The accounts and videos in question had audiences of over 100,000 viewers per broadcast and saw influencers receive money from bettors but not pay out winnings, with the websites then deactivated.
All channels were reported to both Brazil’s Ministries of Justice and Federal Police, in addition to being subject to a public hearing in Brazil’s Supreme Court.
The investigation concluded the accounts and channels breached YouTube’s guidelines.
Brazil’s regulated gaming market went live on 1 January 2025. By February, the country’s Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) had granted 35 full licences to companies looking to operate in there.