Unpacking the 120-Minute Requirement of Ordinance No. 615: What Is Expected of Operators?

Hello, hope you are well.

This is Larissa Iwai, Director of Risk, Compliance, Legal, and AML/CFT at WEpayments.

With the recent regulatory updates introduced by Ordinance No. 615, issued by the Secretariat for Prizes and Betting (SPA/MF) of the Ministry of Finance in April 2024, we’ve noticed a common misinterpretation of the regulation’s requirements. Many operators have interpreted the Ordinance as mandating the “clearing” of transactional accounts every 120 minutes.

Let’s clarify the key points to ensure that you and your operation are aligned with regulatory requirements, avoid unnecessary efforts, and ensure practical compliance with the Ordinance.

What Does Ordinance No. 615 Say About the 120-Minute Deadline?

The Ordinance specifies that operators must make funds available to bettors within 120 minutes, but this requirement applies exclusively to the situations outlined below:

• Balance Withdrawal Requests According to Article 6, §2, operators are prohibited from restricting bettors' access to their available financial balances. Consequently, upon a withdrawal request, the operator is obligated to transfer the requested funds to the registered account of the bettor within a maximum of 120 (one hundred and twenty) minutes.
• Prize Payments Under Article 7, §4, after the conclusion of an actual Sporting event or a virtual session of online games on which the bet was placed, the operator must pay prizes to win bettors within a period of up to 120 (one hundred and twenty) minutes. Such payments will be electronically transferred from the operator’s transactional account to the bettor’s registered account.

These guidelines apply exclusively to “payout” transactions, meaning transfers specifically requested by bettors at certain moments. It’s also important to note that the regulation requires operators to document any non-compliance with the 120-minute deadline, ensuring transparency with the SPA/MF.

In this way, there is no requirement to relocate funds from the transactional account (linked exclusively to bettors' funds) to your operational account (used for general business operations) at any specific time intervals.

If you have any further questions about how to apply this regulation correctly, our team is ready to help.

We hope this edition of our newsletter is helpful for your operation and that it supports the clear and compelling fulfillment of regulatory requirements.

Best regards, and talk soon!