President’s ‘hard, drastic and necessary measure’, likely to attract public support, polls suggest.
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 provisional executive order comes into force at once but will need congressional approval within 120 days to remain in effect.
Lula’s government has also drafted a bill to establish criminal offences related to fixed-odds betting such as promoting them and using personal data to solicit punters.
Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula’s main rival in the upcoming election, accused the current leader of an “electoral measure”.
Betting and gambling are estimated to cost Brazilian society 38.8bn reais annually and increases suicide and depression, according to a 2025 study by the nonprofit Institute of Studies for Health Policies.
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.
In December 2023, Lula signed a law to regulate and tax betting companies for the first time.
Business analysts say that revenues for sports betting, one of the betting models banned on Friday, are estimated at more than $4bn per year in Brazil, one of the biggest markets in the world.