Brazil Congress expands proposals to amend decree-law banning online betting

Brazil’s Congress is now weighing multiple amendments to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s decree-law on online betting, including proposals to remove betting from the ban entirely, split sports betting from online casino games, and protect existing sponsorship deals. For PSPs and operators, the real issue is not the headline ban itself, but whether Brazil ends up restricting only casino-style products while preserving parts of the regulated sports betting market.

1. The measure signed by Lula took effect immediately, but it still needs to go through the National Congress. It is valid for an initial four months and must be voted on within 120 days to become permanent.
2. The deadline for filing amendments was extended until 13 October, which allowed new proposals to be tabled after the first round of elections. The original deadline had been set to end the previous week.
3. One amendment, submitted by deputy Bebeto (PP-RJ), would remove betting from the prohibition while keeping restrictions on advertising by companies in the sector. It also adds limits on the commercial use of sports assets, including the purchase of stadium naming rights.
4. Bebeto argued that a broad ban would benefit the illegal market. His point was straightforward: if legal supply is cut back, users do not disappear, they move to offshore platforms without authorization. That is the part regulated markets always have to worry about.
5. Another line of amendments would separate fixed-odds sports betting from online casino games. Proposals to exclude sports betting from the MP were submitted by deputies Marcos Braz (PSDB-RJ), Julio Lopes (PP-RJ), Pedro Aihara (PP-MG), Felipe Francischini (Podemos-PR), and Julio Arcoverde (PP-PI), as well as senators Marcos Pontes (PL-SP) and Hiran Gonçalves (PP-RR).

The split between sports betting and online casinos is also showing up in the election debate. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) backs banning online casinos while keeping sports betting in place, which matters because Brazil had already moved through a process of regulating fixed-odds betting before this latest attempt at prohibition.

6. Betting sponsorships are also under discussion. One amendment would introduce a transition period for advertising contracts between football clubs and betting companies, which suggests Congress is not just debating what is banned, but how quickly existing commercial relationships would be unwound.