Caixa Pays Online Lottery Prizes by Pix and Swaps Mercado Pago for Azulzinha

Brazil's federal lottery has made its digital channels easier to pay into and cash out of, on the day Justice Luiz Fux froze the lower court fight over the betting ban. Its online customers can still pay by credit card, a method licensed bookmakers were never allowed to accept.

• Caixa Loterias said on 9 November that prizes of up to R$2,428.80, approximately $440, won on bets placed through its digital channels can now be paid by Pix to the account linked to the winner's Pix key
• Credit card payments for digital bets are now processed by Azulzinha, Caixa's own card-acceptance business, which replaces Mercado Pago, whose option stopped working on Monday 9 November
• Caixa's draw-based games sit outside Brazil's betting ban, whose Article 1 exempts the other lottery modalities authorised by law
• A 2024 ordinance barred licensed bookmakers from taking credit card deposits, so the federal lottery is keeping a funding route the private sector never had
• The release does not mention fees, the treatment of larger prizes or the reason for the change of processor

Caixa Moves Card Payments In House and Adds Pix Payouts

Caixa Notícias, the news service of the state-owned bank Caixa Econômica Federal, published the change on the evening of Monday 9 November. Customers who win on a bet placed on the website or app open the winning bet, choose "Resgatar Prêmio", select Pix and enter their key. Prizes of up to R$2,428.80 are credited to the account linked to that key, and the request can be tracked in the "Minhas Apostas" area. That is the only limit the release states.

The second change concerns how bets are bought. Caixa Loterias now uses Azulzinha to process credit card payments on its digital channels, accepting cards from Caixa or any other bank on the Elo, Visa, Mastercard and American Express networks. The bettor selects a card, enters the security code and confirms, and the bet takes part in a draw only once its status shows as "efetivada". According to the release, Azulzinha replaces the Mercado Pago option, which became inoperative on Monday.

Mercado Pago had been part of the online portal since Caixa opened it to customers without a Caixa account in August 2018, when Canaltech reported it as the first payment method on the service and said a credit card was required. Azulzinha is the card acquiring business of Caixa and its subsidiary Caixa Cartões, with technology from Fiserv, according to TI Inside, which reported in February 2024 that most of Caixa's 13,380 lottery outlets already took debit and credit cards through it.

A Lottery Untouched by the Ban

Provisional Measure 1.394 of 25 September 2026 prohibits the operation, offer, intermediation and advertising of betting under the apostas de quota fixa regime in Brazil, covering sports betting and online casino games. Its Article 1, paragraph 2, states that the prohibition does not apply to the other lottery modalities authorised by law, which leaves the Mega-Sena, Lotofácil and Caixa's other draw games running. Betting operators, by contrast, are fighting the extinction of their authorisations, and on 9 November Justice Luiz Fux suspended every lower court challenge until the full court rules.

Caixa had its own stake in that market. G3 Newswire reported in April that its subsidiary Caixa Loterias received a betting authorisation in July 2025 for the BetCaixa, MegaBet and XBet Caixa brands, paying the R$30 million, approximately $5.5 million, fee, but had pushed the launch to 2027 "if it happens at all". The 9 November release mentions neither that authorisation nor the ban.

The State Lottery Keeps a Payment Route Bookmakers Never Had

Ordinance SPA/MF 615 of April 2024 barred licensed betting operators from accepting funds from credit cards or any other post-paid instrument, under Article 3, paragraph 2, item VII. Caixa's lottery accepts credit cards on its digital channels and has now brought that card processing in house. The products differ, and a draw-based lottery ticket is not a live betting account. But the government's case at the 3 November STF hearing rested heavily on household harm, and operators arguing unequal treatment could point to a state-owned lottery taking credit card payments online while the private sector is shut.

Caixa Is Integrating Its Lottery Payments, and Says Nothing About Why

The release presents the switch as a service improvement and gives no reason for dropping Mercado Pago, no fee schedule and no word on whether Mercado Pago chose to leave or Caixa ended the arrangement. What is clear is the direction: card payments now run through a Caixa business and small prizes can go straight to a bank account by Pix. A state bank that owns the lottery, the acquirer and the payout rail keeps more of each transaction inside the group, at a time when no licensed betting operator is trading in Brazil.

The Prize Ceiling Leaves Bigger Winners Outside the New Route

The R$2,428.80 cap means the Pix route covers smaller wins only, and the release does not say how winners of larger prizes from digital bets are paid. With Mercado Pago gone, that is a practical question for anyone who wins more online, and Caixa has not answered it. For a lottery that sells itself on large jackpots, the new route is built for the many small wins rather than the rare large one.

Caixa has made its online lottery easier to fund and to cash out while the courts decide the fate of private betting. The legal distinction between the two products is sound, but the payment rules now run plainly in the state's favour.