Lula again attacks online betting and says Brazil will announce a new measure on bets

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) again described online betting as a disease on Monday, September 14, and said the government will soon announce a decision on how bets operate. For PSPs, acquirers, and banks active in Brazil, the useful part is not the rhetoric; it is the stated plan by the Ministry of Finance to tighten supervision of betting platforms.

1. Lula made the comments in Brasília during the signing of the Move Brasil law. The law expands access to credit for app drivers, taxi drivers, and other transport workers, but the betting issue still took over a large part of the president’s remarks.
2. He said he had attended an off-agenda meeting with people affected by betting addiction. In his words, “very few Brazilian authorities know from the inside what is happening in our country,” and he described the scale of the problem as “a lot of suffering” and “a lot of dependence.”
3. Lula also framed the platforms as inherently inducive rather than recreational. “We are making decisions and soon, soon we will announce the decision we will take in relation to this, because it is a disease, not a game. It is the induction of innocents to an addiction,” he said.
4. The political angle matters because online betting was regulated during Lula’s own administration, yet his tone has become progressively harsher. The Ministry of Finance is planning to expand enforcement over betting houses, and Lula has said publicly that they need to end.
5. The article does not specify the exact measure or timetable, only that an announcement is coming soon. For operators and payment partners, that means the enforcement risk in Brazil is being signaled before the rule is even on paper.