Brazil Enacts Immediate Ban on Fixed-Odds Betting Citing Addiction and Debt

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a provisional executive order banning fixed-odds betting on Friday, just over a week ahead of the first round of the presidential election. The move targets what Lula described as a pervasive problem of families falling into debt. It ends the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of betting with immediate effect.

The order prohibits new deposits into accounts and gives users until Oct. 5 to withdraw their funds. It requires congressional approval within 120 days to remain in effect. Lula’s government has also drafted a bill to establish criminal offenses for promoting fixed-odds betting and using personal data to solicit bettors.

“I made the decision to take a hard, drastic and necessary measure,” Lula told journalists in Sao Paulo. “It’s like cancer, you take out the tumor, or the tumor will kill us.” He had criticized the industry at the United Nations General Assembly for “transforming addiction into profit” and “destroying homes.”

Documented Social and Economic Toll

Betting and gambling are estimated to cost Brazilian society 38.8 billion reais ($7 billion) annually and increase suicide and depression, according to a 2025 study by the nonprofit Institute of Studies for Health Policies. The country’s central bank estimated last year that Brazilians spend about 30 billion reais ($5.7 billion) on bets each month. That figure included spending by beneficiaries of the Bolsa Familia welfare program, which was blocked from those platforms last year.

Business analysts estimate revenues for sports betting at more than $4 billion per year in one of the world’s largest markets. Gambling has been illegal in Brazil but was opened to online betting in 2018. Lula signed a law to regulate and tax the sector in December 2023 and later blocked over 2,000 irregular websites.

Election Timing and Stakeholder Pushback

Polls suggest the ban enjoys widespread public support. Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula’s main rival, called the action an “electoral measure.” Ahead of the order, Brazil’s main soccer clubs warned that sponsorships from betting companies would end immediately, a development some labeled as potentially “the end of Brazilian soccer.”

Lawmakers had previously struck down a Lula order for tax hikes on online betting and virtual casinos. The ban arrives less than two years after regulation began, according to reporting by CDC Gaming. It closes a sector that expanded sharply after opening under former President Michel Temer and during the term of Jair Bolsonaro.

Reporting: CDC Gaming

Generated by SCCG’s automated editorial system from published source reporting. SCCG Management holds editorial responsibility.