A court in São Paulo has ordered Betano to reimburse 50% of the financial losses suffered by a compulsive bettor, marking another judicial decision addressing responsible gambling obligations in Brazil’s betting market.
According to the case file, the bettor reported spending up to six hours per day gambling and resorting to multiple credit mechanisms to sustain the activity, including credit cards, payroll-deducted loans and early withdrawals from Brazil’s severance fund.
In his decision, the judge found that Betano failed to adopt adequate preventive measures despite clear indicators of excessive gambling behavior.
The court characterized the claimant as “hypervulnerable” and stated that, once signs of pathological gambling became evident, the operator had a duty to implement containment tools such as betting limits, alerts or account suspension.
The ruling also highlighted frequent transactions in short intervals, continuous platform usage and the continued receipt of promotional offers and bonuses, including a BR1,000 incentive, as signs that should have triggered intervention.
Betano argued that the claimant did not present a medical report formally diagnosing gambling disorder and that there was no legal impediment preventing him from betting.
The company also added that the account was suspended once the user expressed regret and complained about losses.
Still, the bettor’s legal team contended that the suspension only occurred after substantial financial damage had already been incurred and following an internal assessment that recorded a state of distress.
The defense argued that, had the operator’s monitoring systems functioned as claimed, the compulsive pattern would have been identified earlier.
Betano may still appeal the ruling.
In a separate case, a Brazilian court previously ordered two different platforms to exclude a compulsive gambler from their services after identifying repeated signs of harmful behavior
