Online gambling companies reportedly will be prevented from operating in Brazil if they haven’t requested authorization to do so.

The potential suspensions announced by Brazil’s Finance Ministry will begin Oct. 1 as part of the country’s tightening of online gambling rules, Bloomberg reported Tuesday (Sept. 17).

The Finance Ministry also plans to bar companies from offering credit to gamble on their websites and prohibit consumers from using credit cards to place bets, according to the report.

Gambling-related financial problems have become an “epidemic” in Brazil, demanding government action, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told reporters in Brasilia, per the report.

“It’s becoming a serious social problem, and we have to face it,” Haddad said, according to the report.

Brazil legalized online gambling in 2018, the report said. Today, about 52 million Brazilians participate in online betting, including 25 million who started doing so within the past six months.

This rapid expansion — which has made the country one of the world’s fast-growing gaming markets — has drawn the attention of the country’s authorities, per the report.

Online gambling firms that want to operate in Brazil will have to pay a fee of 30 million reais ($5.5 million), the report said. To date, 108 companies have requested the required authorization.

It was reported in April that some of the sports betting world’s biggest players have turned their sights on Brazil and explored entry into the country’s new, regulated online gambling market.

At that time, more than 130 companies had pre-registered interest in a Brazilian license, expecting that the market could be set for further growth thanks to a 2023 law establishing the regulatory framework to allow fixed-odds sports betting and virtual online gaming services.

Tuesday’s report of Brazil’s tightening of online gambling rules on the heels of an effort in the United States that aims to require states that allow sports betting to meet minimum federal standards covering advertising, affordability and artificial intelligence.

The lawmakers who introduced the U.S. bill Thursday (Sept. 12) said they want to address the public health impact of sports betting and create a “safer, less addictive product.”

One of the proposed bill’s requirements would prohibit operators from accepting deposits via credit card.