How to recover money lost in betting: rights, complaints, and the courts

As a rule, those who bet occasionally and lose are not entitled to a refund, because that is part of the risk of gambling. The exceptions discussed in court involve compulsive gambling (ludopathy) proven by a medical report.

This distinction is central. If you bet on your own, without a diagnosis of a gambling disorder, the negative outcome is a natural consequence of the activity. When there is a diagnosis of pathological gambling, Brazilian legislation imposes obligations on operators — and failure to meet those obligations can give rise to a duty of compensation. In both scenarios, there are administrative and judicial paths, but with very different chances of success.

Rights provided by the Consumer Protection Code

The Consumer Protection Code (Law No. 8.078, of September 11, 1990, published in the DOU on 9/12/1990) lists in art. 6 the basic consumer rights, including: protection against misleading and abusive advertising and against coercive or unfair commercial methods; effective prevention and compensation for property and moral damages; and access to judicial and administrative bodies for the prevention or compensation of damages.

Under art. 14, the service provider is liable regardless of fault for compensation of damages caused by defects in the provision of services and by insufficient or inadequate information. If the platform ran misleading advertising or failed to comply with its own rules, the consumer can seek compensation based on this article.

The Consumer Protection Code also provides for the reversal of the burden of proof at the judge's discretion, when the claim is plausible or the consumer is in a disadvantaged position. For the purposes of the law, a supplier can be a natural or legal person, public or private, domestic or foreign — which includes platforms based outside Brazil.

Law 14.790/2023 and the protection of compulsive gamblers

Law 14.790/2023, known as the Betting Law, regulated fixed-odds betting in Brazil. According to legal analysis, article 26, item VI and §1 of this law expressly prohibits the participation of people diagnosed with ludopathy in betting. This prohibition creates a concrete obligation for operators: to identify and prevent people with this diagnosis from continuing to gamble.

When the platform fails in this obligation, it violates the law. This violation has been used as grounds in lawsuits to request the nullification of the bets and the return of the amounts. The central argument is that, if the law prohibits the participation of the compulsive gambler, the bets placed in violation of this prohibition are null and void.

Article 814 of the Civil Code and gambling debts

Article 814 of the Civil Code establishes that gambling or betting debts are not enforceable. In practice, this prevents the platform from judicially collecting a gambling debt from the bettor. The rule, however, does not automatically create a right to restitution of what has already been bet and lost — it protects against collection, but does not by itself compel a refund.

Evidence to gather before filing a complaint or lawsuit

Before filing any complaint or lawsuit, gather complete documentation. Bank statements and credit card invoices prove the amounts transferred to the platform. Records of blocking or self-exclusion attempts — chat conversations, emails, or WhatsApp messages in which you requested account cancellation — demonstrate that the operator was notified and failed to take action.

In cases of ludopathy, the medical report is the most important piece of evidence. Court decisions from 2026 show that the presence or absence of this document was the factor that determined the outcome of the case.

When it is worth suing and which court hears the case

The judicial route is justified when there is documented grounds: a ludopathy diagnosis accompanied by a medical report, proven platform failure, or documented misleading advertising. Without these elements, the chance of success is low.

Claims of up to 40 minimum wages can be filed at the Small Claims Court, in many cases with no initial court fees. Above that amount, the case goes to the regular courts. The table below compares two 2026 decisions that illustrate the weight of the medical report in these cases.