Flávio Bolsonaro, the Liberal Party (PL) senator facing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil’s 25 October presidential run-off, said on 7 October 2026 that the Brazil betting ban was an attack on legal certainty for operators that paid R$30m each for federal licences.
Bolsonaro, a senator for Rio de Janeiro since 2019, made the remarks at a press conference after meeting the União Progressista federation of the PP and União Brasil parties, according to Jornal de Brasília. Bolsonaro took 47.03% of valid votes in the first round on 4 October, against 45.16% for Lula. He did not say whether he would vote for or against the provisional measure that introduced the ban.
Bolsonaro’s objections
Bolsonaro said the government had collected money from companies that “paid dearly to enter the market” and then shut them down. He also repeated his description of Lula as the “pai do tigrinho” (father of the tiger), a reference to the Fortune Tiger slot that became shorthand for online casino play in Brazil.
He attacked legal certainty, attacked the clubs, various companies.
Flávio Bolsonaro, Senator for Rio de Janeiro and Liberal Party presidential candidate, at a press conference on 7 October 2026 (translated from Portuguese)
He said sports betting and online casino games should be treated separately, calling for “a very honest distinction, made with responsibility”, without setting out how. He noted that the measure could lapse within four months because it was issued as a provisional measure, and said he had voted against the bill that created the regulated market. Football clubs had approached him about the ban, Jornal de Brasília reported.
What the Brazil betting ban covers
Lula signed the provisional measure on 25 September 2026, nine days before the first round of the election. It ends the operation, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting, covering sports betting and online casino games, and applies to federal, state and district authorisations, according to the government’s Agência Gov. Lotteries already authorised by law are excluded.
New deposits were barred from 25 September and licensed sites went offline on 6 October. The government granted 85 authorisations at R$30m each, a total of R$2.55bn, and the measure gives operators no right to compensation for lost profits, investments or licence fees, according to Agência Gov. Sanctions run up to fines of R$2bn and full suspension of activities.
The ban reverses the framework set by Law 14.790/2023, which Lula signed in December 2023 and which opened Brazil’s licensed online market on 1 January 2025. Online betting was first legalised by Law 13.756/2018 under President Michel Temer. Lula called for a ban on online betting platforms in April.
Industry pressure
The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), an operators’ body, estimated in a survey that the shutdown has cost 3,500 jobs, as TGE reported on 13 October. Lawmakers have filed 58 amendments to the provisional measure in Congress.
Next steps
Banks are returning player balances between 9 and 14 October, with Caixa Econômica Federal taking over any refunds the banks cannot complete from 14 October, according to the government’s timetable. Brazilians vote in the presidential run-off on 25 October. Congress must convert the provisional measure into law within 120 days of publication or it lapses.
Source: Government of Brazil
