A study estimates 15,500 jobs lost due to the ban
The cost of the Brazilian ban already has an employment figure. A study by LCA Consultoria commissioned by the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gambling (IBJR) counts 42 economic activities directly or indirectly affected by Provisional Measure 1,394/2026, a network that last year supported more than 15,500 jobs, with R$460m (US$92m) per year in direct salaries and another R$87m (US$17.4m) in social charges.
What the report describes is not a sector but a chain. The survey includes software development, cybersecurity, and corporate services at one end, and marketing, event production, and sports sponsorship at the other, so the blackout of the betting channel drags down providers who never took a bet.
The most repeated argument from the regulated sector is the lack of predictability. Companies had disbursed considerable sums to comply with what the previous framework required in terms of compliance, consumer protection, and technology, and now they face the abrupt termination of ongoing contracts worth billions of reais.
There is also a cost that survives the closure. Ending the activity does not free the platforms, which must maintain operational structure and expenses for at least five years, the period during which they must safeguard data and respond to the requirements of the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting, a burden that complicates any reactivation if the regulation expires.
The Brazilian Association of Digital Influence focused on the advertising link. For the entity, a regulatory change of this magnitude directly impacted agencies, content creators, media, and sports clubs. The association admits that curbing consumer debt and protecting minors are legitimate objectives, but argues that serious oversight, education, and prosecution of clandestine operators would have worked much better than a total ban.
The risk that unites all signatories is market displacement. Shutting down the regulated sector does not shut down demand, so money and audience flows shift to unlicensed platforms, without taxation and without responsible gambling mechanisms, thus worsening the economic and institutional situation precisely in the area that the regulation claimed to want to organize.
It is worth noting who commissioned the study, because the IBJR brings together the operators affected by the measure and the employment estimate comes from a party interested in reversing it. With that caveat, the five-year data is what most changes the equation for a licensee deciding whether to keep their Brazilian company alive while Congress deliberates, as revenues were abruptly cut and compliance costs continue to accrue. This asymmetry, more than the number of jobs, is what makes the parliamentary processing of the provisional measure urgent for the sector.
Tags: Brazil betting ban, IBJR, LCA Consulting, iGaming employment