Brazilians bet more than 42 billion dollars in 2025
Until now Brazil only knew how much the betting houses earned, not how much bettors put in. That gap was filled when the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting of the Finance Ministry disclosed, for the first time, the total amount deposited during 2025 on the regulated platforms: 220,600 million reais, equivalent to some 42,644 million dollars, according to data the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo obtained through the freedom of information law.
The breakdown shows that most of that money went back to the players themselves. Of the total, 183,700 million reais were returned in the form of prizes and withdrawable bonuses, while 36,900 million reais stayed with the houses and make up the sector's gross revenue, a figure already public since the start of the year. The area's secretary, Daniele Correa Cardoso, clarified that the numbers are preliminary and could be adjusted once the verification processes conclude, and specified that the calculation covers only federally licensed operators, without counting houses authorised by state lotteries or those operating illegally.
The disclosure landed amid the dispute over online gambling's real weight in the household economy. While political leaders and various sectors accuse betting of eroding family budgets, the market rejects that reading, and the new official figure became ammunition for that discussion. The hottest point was provided by a study from the National Committee of Finance Secretaries of the States and the Federal District, which had calculated that Brazilians sent 350,970 million reais to the houses and that 62,500 million would have been lost.
The National Association of Games and Lotteries, which represents the sector, came out to reject those estimates and described them as false. Its argument rests precisely on the new official figure: it holds that the amounts that study attributes to betting spending are far above the 36,900 million reais of gross revenue recognised by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting, and warns that the figures could be mixing in accounts of illegal companies, which distorts the picture of the regulated market. The entity stressed that it once again speaks out against disclosures of financial data it considers irresponsible and biased.
Tags: Awards and Betting Secretariat, deposits at Brazilian betting sites, Daniele Correa Cardoso, National Association of Games and Lotteries