Brazil’s Bets Law Faces Repeal Threat as Election Rhetoric Turns Against Regulated Betting

Brazil’s regulated betting market is facing its most serious political threat yet, as candidates across the ideological spectrum line up ahead of the 2026 elections to call for restrictions on — or outright repeal of — the country’s year-old Bets Law. The rhetoric has escalated sharply in recent days, with even sitting officials now floating full prohibition as a legitimate policy position rather than a fringe idea.

Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, a Republicanos candidate seeking re-election as leader of Brazil’s richest and most populous state, delivered the starkest warning yet on August 17 at a healthcare debate organized by SindHosp, the state’s hospital and clinic association. “Either Brazil ends the bets, or the bets end Brazil,” de Freitas said, comparing the spread of online wagering to the country’s public health campaign against smoking — and suggesting the addiction challenge posed by betting could prove even harder to contain.

A Rare Point of Agreement Across Party Lines

What makes the moment notable is that de Freitas is not alone, and not even alone among his own rivals. Fernando Haddad, the sitting Finance Minister and de Freitas’s chief opponent in the Sao Paulo gubernatorial race, has also called for Brazil to “seriously discuss banning” online betting — a striking admission given that Haddad’s own ministry built the regulatory framework the sector now operates under. Haddad has acknowledged that any ban would require federal, not state-level, action, since the market operates under national law.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has added to the pressure. On August 14, Lula said that if it were up to him personally, Brazil would end online betting altogether, framing it as both a public health crisis and a financial one — with families, and even recipients of social benefits, funneling scarce income into betting apps. Lula stopped short of announcing an actual ban, saying the Finance, Planning, and Justice ministries are studying measures to make life harder for operators rather than drafting prohibition legislation outright.

How the Bets Law Got Here

Brazil’s regulated betting market is barely 18 months old. Fixed-odds betting was first legalized under President Michel Temer in 2018 through Law 13,756, but the market operated in a legal gray area for years without a regulatory framework. That changed with Law 14,790/2023, enacted under Lula and signed into force on January 1, 2025, which created a formal licensing regime overseen by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) within the Ministry of Finance.

Under the framework, operators pay a licensing fee of roughly BRL 30 million for a five-year term, an 18% tax on gross gaming revenue, and monthly supervision fees. Mandatory safeguards include CPF and facial-recognition identity verification, a ban on credit cards and cryptocurrency for deposits, and required responsible-gambling tools like deposit limits and self-exclusion. The results have been significant for public finances: licensed operators generated approximately BRL 37 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2025 and paid nearly BRL 10 billion in taxes, funds constitutionally earmarked for education, public security, and sports programs.

Since mid-July, the government has already tightened the screws further, requiring every betting advertisement to carry a health-style warning covering at least 10% of the ad, with heavy fines for operators that ignore the rule.

What Happens Next

Because betting regulation is federal law, no governor — including de Freitas if re-elected — can unilaterally ban betting within a single state’s borders. Any repeal or prohibition would require action from Congress and the President, a far higher bar than campaign-trail rhetoric suggests. Still, with two of Sao Paulo’s leading gubernatorial candidates and the sitting president all publicly souring on the sector within the same week, the political momentum against Brazil’s regulated betting market is building in a way operators haven’t faced since the law took effect. For a market that only recently moved out of the shadows and into a taxed, licensed structure, the run-up to the 2026 elections may determine whether that framework survives intact or gets rewritten from scratch.

Bettors watching how regulatory uncertainty abroad compares to the U.S. market can find a full breakdown of state-by-state legal status in Bettors Insider’s sports betting legal hub, along with the latest DraftKings Promo Code offers for those looking to get started in a fully regulated U.S. market.