São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas has called on conservative blocs in Congress to support a total ban on online betting. Speaking at a healthcare debate on 17 August, he said: 'Either Brazil ends betting, or betting will end Brazil.' De Freitas claims that 20–25% of Brazilians' income now goes to gambling — a figure no source has confirmed.
The governor is using betting as a campaign theme ahead of the 4 October elections, linking it to falling productivity in the state. He has promised a psychological support programme if re-elected. De Freitas, leader of the Republicanos party, echoes President Lula, who said on 14 August: 'If nobody shows me a lawful reason for these companies to exist, we should close them.' In April, deputies from Lula's Workers' Party filed bill PL-1808/2026 to repeal the Bets Law and prohibit fixed-odds betting. Betting is now one of the few issues uniting left and right before the vote.
The Bets Law took effect in January 2025 and was meant to bring the market out of the grey zone. The Treasury collected R$3.1bn in federal tax from January to April 2026; the full-year 2025 take was around R$9bn. Serie A clubs and the Brazilian Football Confederation rely on bookmaker sponsorship and oppose repeal.
Neither bloc has explained what would replace regulation. Banning licensed operators will not kill the market — players will return to the offshore sites authorities tried to move them away from.
