Brazil’s Workers’ Party Files Bill to Ban All Gambling

Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party has tabled legislation to ban all fixed-odds betting nationwide, escalating political pressure on a market that has only operated under a fully licensed federal regime since January 2025.

Deputy Pedro Uczai, the PT’s leader in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, filed Bill PL-1808/2026 on April 14. The proposal prohibits the operation, promotion and facilitation of fixed-odds betting across Brazil, and revokes provisions of Laws 13,756 of 2018 and 14,790 of 2023, which together form the legal basis for licensed sports betting and online gaming in the country. The bill drew 68 co-signatures, including 65 of the PT’s 66 deputies. Two PSOL members and one representative from the Rede party also backed the text.

Political Backdrop

The filing follows a sustained escalation in anti-gambling rhetoric from the country’s leadership. On April 8, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he would close betting companies if the decision were his alone, while acknowledging that congressional action would be required to do so.

The stance is a significant reversal. Lula signed the law legalising fixed-odds online betting in December 2023, a bill originally drafted by Finance Minister Fernando Haddad as a revenue measure. When the legislation passed through Congress, lawmakers expanded the text to include online casino games.

In justifying the bill, Uczai argues that betting platforms have ceased to function as digital entertainment and instead operate as a mechanism for draining household income, driving family debt, and creating mental health pressures across the population.

Scope of the Ban

The bill’s reach extends beyond platform operators. The text covers advertising, sponsorships, payment processing and any intermediary services tied to gambling activity. The proposal directs Brazil’s national telecoms regulator, Anatel, to implement blocking measures — including domain and IP blocks, removal from app stores, de-indexation from search engines, and interruption of hosting and payment flows.

This is not the first legislative attempt to reverse the gambling framework. A separate repeal bill was filed in 2025 by a congressman from Paraná, while a March 2026 bill targeted cashback, rewards and gamification features. A data gap inquiry by another deputy earlier in 2026 also pointed to ongoing concerns about the scale of unlicensed activity running alongside the licensed market.

For context on the size of what operators would be walking away from: Brazil’s regulated betting market generated $7bn in GGR in its first year, with 25 million bettors participating in the licensed system.

Election-Year Pressure

With Brazil’s general election set for October 4, 2026, and President Lula seeking re-election, political analysts note that the campaign narrative has increasingly positioned online betting as harmful to workers and families. That framing aligns the ban bill directly with electoral strategy.

The bill nonetheless faces a difficult path in Congress. The industry’s financial ties to lawmakers and political parties create significant uncertainty around the legislative arithmetic needed to pass a full repeal. A successful vote would unwind licensing commitments made by dozens of international operators since 2023 and require a structural dismantling of the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting’s (SPA) regulatory infrastructure.

Brazil’s betting tax trajectory adds further complexity. The Senate committee has already approved a graduated tax increase to 18% by 2028, and the SPA recently opened a B2B licensing consultation to extend regulation to suppliers. Both measures assume the market continues to operate — a framework that PL-1808/2026 would dismantle entirely.

For operators with exposure to Brazil and investors monitoring the country’s regulatory direction, the filing is a material escalation in risk, regardless of whether the bill advances through committee.

Source: iGaming Republic