Lula has already defined his measure on betting and is not advancing the content
The regulated betting segment was not in the room where its future was discussed, and now it doesn't know what was resolved there either. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced on television that he has already defined his next step regarding the activity and stated, unequivocally, that he does not intend to reveal it in advance.
The statement was made live on SBT on Thursday, September 10. The president described the dilemma aloud, between enabling, closing, or punishing, and said that he preferred a broad consultation over an executive decision. He listed those he summoned to the Palácio do Planalto on September 1: industry entities, families who consider themselves harmed, and individuals with close stories of indebtedness and its most severe consequences. He recalled that he governs for 215 million Brazilians and therefore would not resolve it alone. Then he closed the door. About ten people spoke, the material has already been organized and classified, and the answer will not be known until he announces it.
The composition of that meeting left a striking void. The Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA), the Ministry of Finance office that grants licenses and oversees operators, did not send anyone. Neither the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) nor the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gambling (IBJR), the chambers that group authorized companies, were present. However, there were ministers, artists, and church spokespeople.
The ANJL was the first to point out the imbalance. Their interpretation is that without licensed companies, the evaluation of the activity's effects is incomplete, especially when several of those invited had publicly spoken out against online gambling.
While the announcement is delayed, work is already underway in Brasília on the instrument. CNN Brasil reported that the Executive is drafting a provisional measure with new limits, the articles of which remain confidential. The targets would be online casino products, including slots and crash games, with outright prohibition being one of the alternatives under consideration. An internal current prefers a softer approach, focused on pursuing unlicensed sites.
The chosen path responds to a calendar logic. Unlike a bill, a provisional measure takes effect upon publication, although its survival depends on Congress validating it within 60 days, a period that allows for an extension of another 60 days.
The electoral context explains much of the noise. The first round is less than thirty days away, and the issue has crept into campaign speeches and every interview. Lula himself has said, more than once, that he would ban them. Not everyone in his cabinet agrees: in June, Finance Minister Dario Durigan warned that completely shutting down the activity could push bettors into an illicit circuit even more damaging to the country.
Brazil enabled the fixed-odds betting market on January 1, 2025, under the supervision of the SPA, which has since been issuing authorizations and overseeing operators. The ANJL and IBJR are the two institutional voices of the licensed segment, and any restriction that arrives via provisional measure would affect companies that have already paid for their license and pay taxes under the current regime.
Tags: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Provisional measure on betting, Secretariat of Prizes and Betting, National Association of Games and Lotteries