President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has issued a decree prohibiting fixed‑odds sports betting less than a week before the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, citing the need to address widespread family debt.
The decree terminates the operation, offer, intermediation, and advertising of such betting activities.
The provisional executive order takes immediate effect but requires congressional approval within 120 days to stay in force. It bars new deposits into betting accounts and grants platform users until 5 October to withdraw their funds.
His administration has also drafted legislation that would criminalize activities linked to fixed‑odds betting—the predominant form of online sports wagering—including promotion and the use of personal data to target gamblers.
“I have taken a hard, drastic and necessary measure,” Lula told reporters in São Paulo. “It’s like cancer: you must excise the tumour, or it will kill us.”
Earlier this week, Lula condemned the betting industry at the United Nations General Assembly, accusing it of “turning addiction into profit” and “destroying homes.”
Opinion polls indicate that a ban has broad public backing. Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula’s principal electoral rival, dismissed the move as an “electoral measure.”
Brazil’s president has been a vocal critic of online betting since at least April, when he called for a ban. Public opposition intensified during the FIFA World Cup, as advertisements became pervasive and betting activity surged.
Betting and gambling are estimated to cost Brazilian society 38.8 billion reais (£5.6 billion) each year and to exacerbate suicide and depression, according to a 2025 study by the nonprofit Institute of Studies for Health Policies.
The Central Bank of Brazil estimated last year that Brazilians wager roughly 30 billion reais per month. This amount included spending by recipients of the Bolsa Família cash‑transfer welfare program, which was barred from such platforms the previous year.
Legislators, many from Flávio Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, rejected a Lula‑administered tax‑increase order on online betting and virtual casinos in October of last year.
While gambling remains illegal in Brazil, the nation opened its doors to online betting in 2018 under President Michel Temer. The practice expanded dramatically during the tenure of former President Jair Bolsonaro, Flávio Bolsonaro’s father.
In December 2023, Lula enacted legislation to regulate and tax betting operators for the first time. Several months later, his government blocked over 2,000 irregular online betting sites, some tied to criminal groups like the First Capital Command of São Paulo and the Red Command of Rio de Janeiro, as part of a broader regulatory effort.
Lula and his administration have repeatedly argued that prohibiting online betting is essential to halt a drain on the national economy and to address a public‑health crisis, with many Brazilians suffering addiction and financial hardship because of these platforms.
Business analysts estimate that sports‑betting revenues—among the models prohibited on Friday—exceed $4 billion (£3 billion) annually in Brazil, making it one of the world’s largest markets.
Ahead of Friday’s decision, Brazil’s leading football clubs raised concerns after betting firms reportedly warned that their sponsorships would be terminated immediately should a ban be imposed.
Clubs warned that the ban could spell the end of Brazilian football—a claim that drew mockery on social media in the football‑obsessed nation.
