Regis Dudena, who has served as the first president of Brazil’s Secretariat for Prizes and Betting (SPA), has stepped down to lead the Secretariat for Economic Reforms (SRE) within the Ministry of Finance.
His appointment to the SRE follows internal discussions and has been confirmed by Brazilian media outlets, including Valor Econômico. He assumes the new role ahead of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies returning from recess on February 2.
Dudena will now oversee key microeconomic policy areas such as regulatory reform, capital income tax policy, credit-related agendas, and financial market development. His departure from the SPA marks the second high-level exit at the secretariat in recent weeks, following the mid-January resignation of special adviser Marcelo Damato.
Daniele Correa Cardoso, SPA’s deputy secretary, will serve as interim head. According to BNLData, other internal contenders for succeeding Dudena include Fabio Macorin, the subsecretary for Monitoring and Enforcement. Both have been central to the SPA’s operational development since its inception.
Dudena’s transfer follows a tenure that began in April 2024 and included key milestones in the regulation of Brazil’s online betting industry. He played a central role in implementing Law No. 14.790 and spearheaded the licensing process ahead of the market’s formal launch in January 2025.
Speaking at the Bet On Brasil event, Dudena noted that over 300 license applications had been processed within established deadlines. “The year of the regulated market did not begin on 1 January 2025. There was intense work in 2024 to create the entire regulatory base of the sector and structure the operator authorisation process,” he said.
Dudena highlighted that 2025 marked the first year in which the regulation’s practical impact was evident. “For the first time in history, the State knows who can provide this service, who the partners and executives are, and can act more effectively in protecting people and combating fraud and money laundering,” he said.
Under his leadership, the SPA launched a national self-exclusion program for gambling addicts, mandated for all licensed operators and integrated with Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS). Dudena stated that SPA’s mandate goes beyond taxation, pointing instead to consumer protection, fraud prevention, and inter-agency collaboration.
Dudena stressed the importance of enforcement in the current phase of market regulation. “The first challenge is to ensure that everyone understands that the rules must be followed. Those who do not comply will be supervised,” he said. He further underlined efforts to fight unlicensed operators.
Seventy-nine licensed betting companies reported activity from 25.2 million bettors in Brazil during 2025, a year that delivered BRL37 billion ($7 billion) in gross gaming revenue under the country’s regulated framework.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/02/02/117390-brazil-regis-dudena-steps-down-from-secretariat-for-prizes-and-betting
