Lula puts crackdown on betting apps at the center of his re-election campaign in Brazil

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) has signaled that he wants a strong restriction, or even a full ban, on digital betting platforms, including online casino-style games known locally as “jogo do tigrinho.” For payment providers in high-risk verticals, the detail that matters is simple: this is not just campaign noise, because the government is already weighing measures that could hit licensed operators, their payment flows, and the people who finance them.

1. According to Folha de S.Paulo, Lula will discuss the final decision with allies on Wednesday (23), after returning from the UN General Assembly. Government aides say some measure against bets is imminent, while allies believe he is determined to impose either severe restrictions or a total ban.
2. Even in the least restrictive scenario described by those sources, the expectation is a specific ban on jogo do tigrinho, the online-casino format that accounts for most of the sector’s revenue. Unlike sports betting, it does not depend on real-world events such as football match results; it is pure digital gambling.
3. There are real implementation problems. One of them is legal: licensed betting firms paid R$ 30 million to the federal government to operate for five years, and a ban now could trigger a court fight, with the executive potentially having to compensate the platforms for unfulfilled contract time.
4. Officials also worry that a ban could exist only on paper if the services remain accessible in practice. In other words, the government is trying to avoid a situation where it announces a crackdown and then leaves the same sites and apps available a few clicks away.
5. Congress is another obstacle. Any provisional measure or bill would have to pass through the National Congress, where betting companies also have political weight. The industry sponsors digital influencers, and there is concern that they could turn against Lula during the campaign if the business is affected.

The anti-bets message will make its television debut on Tuesday (22), and the campaign piece is expected to circulate online on Monday (21). It will feature Lula speaking with people indebted because of gambling addiction and frame betting in Brazil as something that began under Michel Temer (MDB) and continued without regulation during Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) administration.