Brazil has banned fixed-odds betting nationwide. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a provisional measure (medida provisória, MP) on 25 September that prohibits the operation, offer, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds bets, covering sports betting and online casino games. New deposits stopped the moment the MP was published in the Official Gazette (DOU), and licensed sites and apps will be blocked from 00:00 on 6 October.
The measure takes effect immediately. It ends the federally regulated market that opened on 1 January 2025 under Law No. 14,790/2023, which Lula signed in December 2023.
What the government announced
The official announcement from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, published on gov.br on the evening of 25 September, sets out the ban, a staged wind-down for players and operators, a new enforcement structure and a bill creating criminal offences. The announcement was made at a ceremony in São Paulo and packaged with Desenrola Brasil 3.0, a household-debt programme.
According to SBC News, the prohibition also reaches betting licensed by Brazil’s states and the Federal District, not only operators holding federal authorisations from the Ministry of Finance’s Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA).
Timeline for the shutdown
The government set the following dates:
- 25 September: new deposits into betting accounts banned on publication of the MP. New advertising contracts are also prohibited from this date.
- 5 October, 23:59: deadline for players to withdraw balances from their betting accounts. Existing advertising contracts may run until this date, and physical and outdoor advertising must be removed.
- 6 October, 00:00: betting sites and apps blocked nationwide, with the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) and app stores involved in the blocking.
- 6 to 8 October: operators report each customer’s remaining balance, by CPF (taxpayer number), to financial institutions. The Ministry of Justice release gives 6 to 7 October; the Ministry of Health release gives 7 to 8 October.
- 9 to 14 October: banks return remaining balances to the account the money was originally deposited from.
- From 14 October: state-owned bank Caixa Econômica Federal takes over transfers where obstacles remain, according to the Ministry of Health.
Finance Minister Dario Durigan explained the withdrawal window at the announcement:
“As of today, no more money can be deposited into the country’s betting sites. The platforms will remain available so that people and bettors can withdraw their remaining balances until 11:59 p.m. on October 5.”
Durigan said the decision came from “the harmful effect that the bets generated in Brazil,” as reported by Brasil de Fato.
What operators need to do
For licensed operators, the official releases translate into five obligations:
- Stop accepting deposits and stop offering bets.
- Keep platforms open for withdrawals only, until 23:59 on 5 October.
- Sign no new advertising or sponsorship contracts, let existing ones lapse by 5 October, and remove physical and outdoor advertising by that date.
- Take platforms offline from 6 October.
- Send each customer’s remaining balance, identified by CPF, to financial institutions so banks can return funds between 9 and 14 October.
The Ministry of Health release puts the number of federal authorisations granted at 85, each costing R$30 million, or R$2.55 billion in total. The releases do not say whether any of that will be refunded.
What Lula said
Lula tied the ban to household debt and gambling harm. At the announcement, he compared the spread of online betting to the early days of crack cocaine in Brazil, according to media reports:
“Some things are shocking. It reminded me a little of the early days of crack in this country. Society was left completely unprotected. This country, which was against casinos and cockfighting, brought the casino into people’s homes.”
“I made the decision to take a tough, drastic and necessary measure. It is like a tumor: either we remove it, or the tumor kills us.”
Brasil de Fato also reported him saying:
“This online gambling is not betting, it is a disease. I am going to end these bets.”
These quotes do not appear in the Ministry of Justice or Ministry of Health releases, which quote Durigan and Health Minister Alexandre Padilha.
The health case
Padilha said more than 1.3 million Brazilians have asked to self-exclude from betting. The Ministry of Health estimates the social cost of gambling at R$38.8 billion a year, R$30.6 billion of it health-related, and says gambling-related visits to the public health system (SUS) rose 140% between 2018 and 2025. It cites World Health Organization research putting suicide mortality among people with gambling disorder at 15 times the general rate.
“We are talking about something that goes well beyond an economic activity: it enters people’s homes, schools and phones, and affects not only those who develop compulsive behaviour but also the family members around them,” said Padilha.
The ministry points players to a self-assessment test in the Meu SUS Digital app.
Enforcement and new crimes
The government created an interinstitutional committee that includes the Federal Police, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance, the Attorney General’s Office (AGU), the Federal Revenue Service, the Casa Civil and Anatel. The day before the announcement, 1,367 irregular sites and social media profiles were taken down, according to the Ministry of Justice.
A bill sent to Congress would add five offences to Law No. 13,756/2018:
- operating bets: 4 to 6 years in prison plus a fine;
- advertising or promoting bets: 2 to 4 years, doubled where recruitment is paid by commission;
- using personal data without authorisation to recruit bettors: 2 to 4 years, doubled where the target has a history of addiction or is a minor;
- facilitating betting payments: 2 to 4 years;
- providing platforms for betting: 2 to 4 years.
Industry response
The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), which represents licensed operators, will file a lawsuit against the MP, SBC News reported. Before the announcement, ANJL warned that a ban would push Brazilian players to illegal sites.
What happens next
Under Brazil’s constitution, a provisional measure is valid for 60 days, extendable once for another 60. If Congress does not approve it within that period, it lapses. Operators therefore face a shutdown on 6 October while the legal basis for it is still subject to a congressional vote and, if ANJL follows through, a court challenge.
The next dates to watch are 5 October for withdrawals, 6 October for the block, and 14 October for the end of the balance-return window.
Source: Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Brazil); SBC
