Flávio Bolsonaro attacks Brazil’s bet ban as Lula’s government moves to outlaw online gambling 9 days before the election

Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) has blasted President Lula’s move to issue a Provisional Measure (Medida Provisória, MP) banning bets in the country, calling it an election-time “fraud” and arguing the government has already collected R$ 20 billion from the sector. For PSPs and high-risk operators, the key detail is not the politics; it’s the regulatory whiplash: an immediate ban, a parallel bill with prison terms, and a lawmaking process that can still be undone if the MP expires.

1. On Friday, 25/9, Lula and members of his economic team announced the measure in São Paulo. Alongside the MP, the government also sent a bill that would impose prison terms of up to six years on anyone who operates or promotes betting.
2. Flávio Bolsonaro said the timing was deliberate: “Now, nine days before the election, he announces that he will end bets?” He also pointed out that an MP takes effect immediately but lasts only four months unless Congress turns it into permanent law through votes in a joint committee and then in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
3. His other claim was financial: according to the senator, since Lula regulated bets, the government has already collected more than R$ 20 billion. He argued that the decision to authorize the sector was made to raise money and cover the government’s fiscal gap.
4. The betting framework in Brazil has already had a stop-start history. Sports betting was legalized in 2018, during the final year of Michel Temer’s government. Under Jair Bolsonaro, the sector remained unregulated. In 2023, at the initiative of Lula’s economic team, Congress approved operating rules, and the activity began operating under licenses issued by the federal government.
5. Flávio Bolsonaro has also changed his own position over time. He once had ties to the congressional group favoring legalization and even traveled in 2020 to Las Vegas and Miami to meet with casino companies. Now he says he opposes online casinos. On Thursday, 24/9, he said that if elected he would ban online casinos, including jogo do tigrinho, while keeping fixed-odds sports betting, which he said offers more control mechanisms.

For high-risk payment providers, the useful takeaway is simple: Brazil’s betting regime is still politically fragile, and the difference between “licensed” and “banned” can be a matter of a single MP, a congressional vote, or an election result.