“Attack illegality. Do not dismantle the capacity to fight it.”
With this warning, Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, Co-Founder and Global CEO of SIGA and President & CEO of SIGA LATIN AMERICA, opened the inaugural SIGA Ibero-American Sports Betting Integrity Forum at SBC Summit Lisbon, placing the consequences of regulatory instability and the growing challenge of illegal betting at the centre of the debate.
Bringing together representatives from the betting industry and leading industry associations from Portugal and Colombia, the Forum examined how regulation can protect consumers, safeguard the integrity of sports competitions, and create a sustainable and competitive legal market without inadvertently strengthening illegal operators.
In his opening keynote, Macedo de Medeiros focused particularly on recent developments in Brazil and warned against dismantling a regulated framework into which licensed operators have invested heavily in compliance, technology, employment, and Sport.
Brazil established the rules, he stressed. Licensed operators paid BRL 30 million for five-year authorisations and made substantial investments based on the regulatory framework created by the State.
Changing those conditions without adequate consultation, evidence, proportionality, and a credible transition, he argued, risks damaging not only the regulated betting sector but also institutional trust and Brazil’s credibility among businesses and international investors:
“No industry is entitled to unchanging rules. But the State must act responsibly, with evidence, consultation, proportionality and a credible transition”
His message was equally clear regarding the consequences for Sport Integrity.
Closing or severely restricting the regulated market does not eliminate demand. Instead, Macedo de Medeiros warned, consumers may migrate towards offshore and illegal operators, including platforms accessible through technological workarounds, operating beyond effective regulatory supervision.
Such a development could also make the fight against competition manipulation more difficult.
“When information-sharing weakens, investigators lose visibility. Suspicious transactions become harder to trace. Athletes and competitions become more exposed,” he warned.
At the same time, the SIGA Global CEO stressed that gambling-related harm must be addressed decisively, including through enforceable safeguards, prevention and treatment mechanisms, protection of children and young people, and sanctions against operators that exploit vulnerable consumers.
He also reaffirmed SIGA’s commitment to raising standards beyond minimum regulatory compliance through the SIGA Universal Standards on Sports Betting Integrity and SIRVS, the organisation’s Independent Rating and Verification System.
The Forum also provided the platform for Macedo de Medeiros to announce a renewed operational drive involving SIGA SOLUTIONS and EPIC Global Solutions, focused on delivering prevention and responsible gambling programmes at scale.
“Preventing gambling harm demands sustained commitment, trained people and measurable results. It cannot be a one-off initiative or a box-ticking exercise,” he stated.
Regulation must work in practice
The keynote was followed by a panel moderated by João Paulo Almeida, Co-Chair of the SIGA Europe Permanent Committee on Sports Betting Integrity, featuring Ricardo Domingues, President of APAJO, and Evert Montero Cardenas, President of FECOLJUEGOS.
The discussion broadened the analysis of the Brazilian situation to consider the wider regulatory experience across Ibero-America, with particular attention to Brazil and Colombia.
A central conclusion emerged from the discussion: effective regulation cannot be measured simply by the number of laws, decrees or restrictions introduced. It must be judged by how effectively it works in the market.
The panel highlighted the need to reconcile three objectives that are sometimes treated separately: protecting consumers and vulnerable groups, preserving the competitiveness of licensed operators, and making the regulated market sufficiently attractive to prevent consumers from migrating to illegal alternatives.
Speakers warned that excessive taxation, operational restrictions, limitations on promotional activity or cumbersome requirements can create an unintended competitive advantage for unlicensed operators that do not comply with the same rules.
The discussion also underlined the importance of legal and regulatory stability.
Frequent changes to regulatory frameworks or their interpretation can affect investment decisions, undermine business planning, and weaken confidence among operators that have entered a market in reliance on rules established by public authorities.
Against this background, industry associations were identified as having an important responsibility to provide governments, regulators, parliaments, and the media with technically grounded information.
The Colombian experience was highlighted as an example of how organised industry representation can engage with policymakers and challenge initiatives considered technically unsound or likely to generate unintended consequences.
For Brazil, the discussion pointed to the importance of continuing to strengthen institutional dialogue between public authorities, licensed operators, industry associations, Sport, and integrity organisations.
The inaugural SIGA Ibero-American Sports Betting Integrity Forum reinforced a central principle underpinning SIGA’s approach: regulation is indispensable, but regulation alone is not sufficient.
Effective Sports Betting Integrity requires stable and enforceable rules, strong regulators, competitive legal markets, information-sharing, consumer protection, safeguards against gambling-related harm, and independent scrutiny of the organisations operating within the ecosystem.
As Macedo de Medeiros concluded:
“Leadership is measured by the consequences of its decisions. Let ours leave consumers better protected, criminals with fewer opportunities, and Sport stronger.”
The SIGA Ibero-American Sports Betting Integrity Forum took place during SBC Summit Lisbon 2026, where SIGA served as Sport Integrity Partner.
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ABOUT SIGA
SIGA is the world’s leading organisation for Sport Integrity. We are creating a whole new landscape for the sports industry by delivering independent global rating and certification for world Sport to ensure it is governed and operates under the highest integrity standards: The SIGA Universal Standards.
Funded by our Members, SIGA is a non for profit global independent organisation with one aim: To ensure the sport industry is governed under the highest integrity standards so that the values of sport are protected.
SIGA is the only organisation to bring together sport, governments, academia, international organisations, sponsors, business, rights holders, NGOs and professional services companies, from every region in the world, around a common cause of fostering greater integrity throughout sport.
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