São Paulo governor Tarcísio de Freitas backs ending online betting in Brazil, calls gambling addiction a public health issue

São Paulo governor Tarcísio de Freitas said Brazil should end online sports betting platforms altogether, arguing that betting addiction should be treated as a public health problem. For PSPs, acquirers, and banks looking at Brazil’s high-risk stack, that is not just rhetoric: it is a reminder that the market’s regulatory risk is increasingly being framed in health-policy terms, not only tax or consumer-protection terms.

1. Freitas made the remarks during Diálogos da Saúde, a hearing held at the Sindicato dos Hospitais, Clínicas e Laboratórios de São Paulo (SindHosp). He said: “Either Brazil gets rid of betting or betting gets rid of Brazil. We have to understand that this is a health problem.”
2. He compared online betting addiction to tobacco dependence and said the state should treat gambling addiction as a disease, with specialized public-sector care available. In his words, the state was effective in helping people quit tobacco, and the same approach should be applied to bets.
3. Freitas also tied online betting to household debt, saying 20% of Brazilians’ income would be committed to bets, though he did not cite the source of that figure. For payment companies, that kind of claim matters because it feeds the political case for tighter controls on deposits, affordability checks, and transaction monitoring.
4. He called for a national program to treat gambling dependence, saying it should be “robust, accessible and digitalized.” The practical takeaway is straightforward: Brazil’s online betting debate is no longer only about licensing and tax collection; it is being pulled into the health-system conversation.
5. The article notes that Brazil is among the world’s largest online betting markets, driven by the expansion of digital platforms in recent years. That scale is exactly why statements like this matter to high-risk PSPs: when a major market starts discussing an outright shutdown, even political signaling can affect banking appetite and acquiring strategy.