Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has moved to ban online gambling in a dramatic late-campaign intervention that blends public health rhetoric, economic disruption and electoral politics just over a week before the country's first round of presidential voting.
Lula, the 80-year-old left-wing leader seeking another term, signed a provisional order on Friday that "prohibits all sports betting and online casinos," according to the announcement. He also separately signed a bill creating criminal offences tied to fixed-odds betting, the most common form of online sports wagering in Brazil. The measures, which must win congressional approval within 120 days to remain in force, immediately set off a fierce backlash from the gambling industry, football clubs and the political opposition.
In his announcement, Lula described online gambling as a "cancer," adding: "either we remove the tumour, or it kills us." He said the government could no longer tolerate an industry that, in his view, had grown into a social harm with little effective oversight. In a statement on X, he argued there were "no restrictions" in place to stop children and teenagers from accessing online betting, and said: "We won't allow betting companies to profit at the expense of Brazilian families' income and lives."
The president said he had heard from families who had sold everything in their homes because of gambling addiction, underscoring the personal and social damage he says the industry has caused. Earlier this week, speaking at the UN General Assembly, Lula accused the sector of "transforming addiction into profit," a line that now appears central to his campaign message as he seeks to present himself as a defender of household finances and vulnerable consumers.
The timing, however, has made the move inseparable from the election campaign. Lula is running against the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently incarcerated, and recent polls have shown the two men almost neck-and-neck. That has given the gambling ban an unmistakable political edge, with critics accusing Lula of using regulation to energize voters and frame his opponent as aligned with an industry many Brazilians now view with suspicion.
Flávio Bolsonaro, speaking at a campaign rally in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, called the crackdown "populist, hypocritical and politically motivated," according to Reuters. He accused Lula of playing politics with a sector that has become deeply embedded in Brazilian sport and advertising. The Bolsonaro camp's criticism reflects a broader concern among opponents that the president is using a moral campaign issue to dominate the final stretch of the race.
Brazil's online gambling market was legalized in 2018 and has since exploded in popularity, even as most other forms of gambling, including casinos and slot machines, remain illegal. The industry has been blamed for widespread household income losses linked to addiction, and public concern appears to be rising. A survey by Atlas and Bloomberg published this week found that 59.9% of Brazilian adults support banning internet betting.
Yet the sector has also become financially important, especially to football. Grêmio, one of Brazil's so-called "big twelve" clubs, warned ahead of Lula's announcement that sports betting firms had become "one of the main sources of revenue for sports" since legalization. The club said a change in the law "will not only be an open door for illegal betting, but a fatal blow to Brazilian football, leading many clubs to insolvency."
Broadcaster Globo reported that the main clubs were paid 1.1 billion reais, or about $212 million, by sports betting firms in 2025, while the industry itself took in 62.5 billion reais over the same period. Those figures help explain why the crackdown has alarmed clubs that have grown dependent on sponsorships and commercial partnerships from betting companies. Brazilian football teams have already warned that the ban could cost them income as firms pull back sponsorships.
The Brazilian Institute for Responsible Gaming, or IBJR, which says it represents around 75% of the domestic betting sector, said a total ban on fixed-odds betting would jeopardize the industry and could put 58 billion to 73 billion reais in revenue at risk. It argued that prohibition would not eliminate demand, warning that the policy could simply push activity into illegal channels.
That argument is likely to become central as lawmakers weigh whether to approve Lula's provisional order. For now, punters and bookies have until 5 October to withdraw existing funds from online betting accounts, while new deposits have been barred. The government's next battle will be in Congress, where the president will need enough support to preserve the ban beyond its temporary legal window.
The confrontation leaves Lula trying to turn a public backlash against gambling into a campaign asset, while his opponents seek to portray the move as a politically timed overreach. With the election approaching and the race still tight, the ban has become more than a regulatory decision: it is now a test of whether Brazil's next president will be chosen on promises of protection and restraint, or on fears that the government is reaching too far into the economy and the lives of ordinary voters.