Lula bans fixed

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has signed an order banning fixed-odds sports betting just over a week before 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 5 October to withdraw their funds.

Lula’s government has also drafted a bill to establish criminal offences 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 punters.

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

Lula had also criticised the betting industry earlier this week at the UN general assembly, accusing it of “transforming addiction into profit” and of “destroying homes”.

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

Brazil’s president has sharply criticised online betting at least since April, when he called for a ban. The public backlash against it 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 38.8bn reais (£5.6bn) 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 30bn reais on bets each month. That figure included spending by beneficiaries of the cash-transfer federal welfare programme 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 the 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 more than 2,000 online betting websites that were designated as irregular, including some linked to criminal organisations such as the First Capital Command from São 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 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 $4bn (£3bn) per year in Brazil, one of the biggest markets in the world.

Before Friday’s move, Brazil’s main football clubs sounded the alarm after betting companies reportedly warned that their sponsorships would end immediately if the government banned betting.

They said the move could lead to the end of Brazilian football, a claim mocked by some social media users in the football-mad country.