Brazil’s casino and bingo legalization debate pits regulation against gambling risk as PL 2.234 of 2022 waits in the Senate

Brazil’s long-running ban on casinos and bingos is back on the table, with supporters arguing that legalization would bring the market into the open and critics warning that more supply means more exposure for vulnerable players. For PSPs and acquirers, the real question is not abstract policy—it is whether Brazil ends up with a regulated, taxable market or a larger illegal one running outside any controls.

1. On Tuesday, 11/8, Jornal da CBN held a debate on the legalization of bingos and casinos in Brazil as part of its “50 Debates for Brazil” series. The discussion was moderated by anchors Mílton Jung and Cássia Godoy and brought together Wesley Cardia, lawyer and former president of the Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL), and Hermano Tavares, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and coordinator of the Programa Ambulatorial do Jogo (PRO-AMJO).
2. Cardia argued that prohibition has not stopped clandestine venues from operating. His case for legalization was straightforward: identify players, block minors and people under official restrictions, collect taxes, and supervise operators. He also said Brazil’s ban dates back to Decreto-Lei 9.215 of 1946, which restored the application of article 50 of the Lei das Contravenções Penais and treated the activity as a misdemeanor.
3. Cardia added that regulation can fail if it becomes too heavy-handed. In his view, rules that make legal operation unworkable or leave authorized companies unable to compete would push players toward illegal platforms. His line was that regulation has to be firm and balanced, while the illegal market has to be attacked at the same time.
4. Tavares rejected the idea that regulation automatically reduces harm. His argument was that expanding supply exposes more vulnerable people to addiction and that player protection should not depend on the initiative of the companies offering the games. “Waiting for the company to spontaneously limit the clients who generate the most revenue is like inviting the fox to guard the henhouse,” he said.
5. The legal framework is now in PL 2.234 of 2022, which authorizes casinos, bingos, videobingos and jogo do bicho. The bill has already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies and by the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee, but it still awaits a plenary vote in the Senate. In December 2025, senators rejected an urgency request, so the proposal moved to ordinary procedure.

For high-risk payment providers, this is the sort of legislative process that matters because it changes the map: who can accept payments, under what controls, and whether the market shifts from informal operators to licensed ones. Brazil is still at the stage where the final shape of that market is being argued in public, with the Senate holding the pen.