Lula Turns on Online Casinos Two Years After Legalising Them

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used a national television and radio broadcast on 7 March to call for a ban on online casinos and “Fortune Tiger” games, describing mobile gambling as a threat to household finances — less than three years after his government signed the regulatory framework that legalised them.

What Lula Said

The address, recorded at the Palácio da Alvorada ahead of International Women’s Day, ran approximately six minutes and covered several social issues. On gambling, Lula framed mobile betting as a domestic financial crisis disproportionately affecting women.

“The other drama facing Brazilian households is the addiction to gaming. While the addict is mostly the man of the house, the bill is presented to the woman: the money for food, for rent, for the children’s school fees, and the money is spent on the phone screen. Casinos are forbidden in Brazil. It makes no sense for us to allow the ‘Fortune Tiger’ games to penetrate the home and get families into debt through their cell phones.”

He went further, signalling that new legislation would require cross-institutional cooperation.

“We will work on that by bringing together the Government, Congress, and the Judiciary so that these digital casinos do not continue indebting families and destroy households.”

The Regulatory Timeline

The statement sits awkwardly alongside the government’s own legislative record. In December 2023, Lula signed a bill — initially drafted by Finance Minister Fernando Haddad — establishing Brazil’s fixed-odds sports betting framework. During the bill’s passage through the Chamber of Deputies, Congressman Adolfo Viana introduced amendments extending the framework to online casino games. The Senate attempted to limit the bill to sports betting only, but the Chamber voted to preserve the casino provisions before final approval.

The resulting law legalised both sports betting and online casino games, with the regulatory framework entering effect in January 2025. Brazil’s first year of regulated betting generated $7bn in GGR with 25 million active bettors.

Industry Response: AMIG Pushes Back

The Association of Women in the Gaming Industry (AMIG), which represents more than 1,400 professionals across technology, compliance, legal, marketing, and payments, issued a statement the same day expressing “surprise and concern” at the president’s remarks.

AMIG cited Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service data showing that online betting firms paid R$9.95 billion in taxes in 2025, covering IRPJ, CSLL, PIS/Cofins, social security contributions, and the mandatory 12% allocation required under Law No. 13.756/2018. Licensed operators also contributed R$4.5 billion to public sector funding last year.

The association pushed back on the framing of the speech, arguing that using a Women’s Day address to criticise the sector ignored women’s own role in building the industry. AMIG stated that the comments revealed a lack of understanding of a market that generates jobs, income, and government revenue — and one that did not exist in Brazil until recently.

“The growth of the industry is also a story built by women who help construct it every day.”

AMIG also noted that the industry has the potential to become one of the three largest regulated gaming markets in the world, and argued that growth must include commitments to gender equality and women’s leadership within the sector.

Political Context

The timing of the speech reflects Lula’s effort to strengthen communication with women voters ahead of Brazil’s 2026 presidential election. The broadcast also addressed femicide and labour conditions. Whether his anti-casino remarks translate into active legislative proposals — which would require National Congress approval — remains to be seen. A bill advancing a total gambling advertising ban is already moving through the Senate, adding pressure to an industry that is barely a year into its regulated existence.

What the episode makes clear is that Brazil’s regulatory consensus is under strain. The government that created the framework is now publicly questioning one of its own pillars, while the industry it spawned is generating significant tax receipts and employing thousands. The SPA is still processing B2B supplier licensing consultations, meaning the regulatory build-out is not yet complete even as political support for the model wobbles.

Source: BNL Data