Brazil's President Lula bans online betting ahead of presidential election

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday signed an order banning fixed-odds betting just over a week ahead of the first round of the presidential election, in a move he said was designed to tackle the pervasive problem of families falling into debt.

The decision ends the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of betting. The provisional executive order comes into force immediately but will need congressional approval within 120 days to remain in effect. It prohibits new deposits into accounts and gives users of betting platforms until Oct. 5 to withdraw their funds.

Lula's government has also drafted a bill to establish criminal offenses related to fixed-odds betting — the most common and dominant type of online sports betting — such as promoting them and using personal data to solicit bettors.

“I made the decision to take a hard, drastic and necessary measure,” he told journalists in Sao Paulo. “It’s like cancer, you take out the tumor, or the tumor will kill us.”

Lula had also criticized the betting industry earlier this week at the United Nations General Assembly, accusing it of “transforming addiction into profit” and of “destroying homes.”

Polls suggest a ban enjoys widespread endorsement among Brazilians. Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula's main rival in the upcoming election, accused the current leader of an “electoral measure.”

Brazil's president has sharply criticized online betting at least since April , when he called for a ban. Backlash grew during the FIFA World Cup when advertisements were ubiquitous and the number of people betting surged.

Betting and gambling are estimated to cost Brazilian society 38.8 billion reais ($7 billion) annually and increases 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 cash-transfer federal welfare program Bolsa Familia (Family Grant) , which was blocked from those platforms last year.

Lawmakers, including many from Flávio Bolsonaro's Liberal Party, struck down a Lula order for tax hikes on online betting and virtual casinos in October last year.

Gambling is illegal in Brazil, but the country opened the gates to online betting in 2018 during the presidency of Michel Temer. The phenomenon snowballed under the watch of former President Jair Bolsonaro, Flávio Bolsonaro's father.

In December 2023, Lula signed a law to regulate and tax betting companies for the first time. Months later, his administration blocked over 2,000 online betting websites that were designated as irregular, including some linked to criminal organizations like the First Command of the Capital from Sao Paulo and the Red Command of Rio de Janeiro. It was part of a national push to regulate the sector.

Lula and members of his administration have spoken about banning online betting as necessary to both close a drain to the country's economy and to tackle a public health issue, as many Brazilians are addicted and in financial difficulties due to spending their money on these platforms.

Business analysts say that revenues for sports betting, one of the betting models banned on Friday, are estimated at more than $4 billion per year in Brazil, one of the biggest markets in the world.

Ahead of Friday’s move, Brazil's main soccer clubs sounded the alarm after betting companies reportedly warned clubs that sponsorships will end immediately if the government bans betting.

They said the move could mean “the end of Brazilian soccer," a claim mocked by some social media users in the soccer-mad country.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america