Brazilians lost $12.5 billion to betting in 2025, with 41% to 51% of the market going to underground bookmakers

Brazil’s betting market is already large enough to matter on its own, and the split between licensed and underground operators matters even more for PSPs, acquirers, and banks deciding where to take risk. The headline number is $12.5 billion lost in 2025; the catch is that 41% to 51% of the market is attributed to illegal bookmakers.

1. Brazilians lost $12.5 billion on betting in 2025, according to the source. For payment providers, that is not just a consumer-spend figure; it is a reminder that betting volume in Brazil is big enough to keep drawing money through channels that sit outside the regulated stack.
2. The source says underground bookmakers account for 41% to 51% of the market in Brazil. In practice, that means roughly half of betting-related payment flow is not going through licensed operators, which is exactly the kind of split that changes how acquirers, PSPs, and sponsor banks think about exposure.
3. The report does not name specific operators, regulators, or payment methods. Even so, the regulatory takeaway is clear enough: in Brazil, the main commercial question is not whether betting demand exists, but which share of that demand is still being processed by unlicensed channels.