Brazil’s 2026 presidential campaign turns betting into a fiscal issue, with six camps split on taxes, ads, and outright bans

A debate hosted by O Globo, Valor Econômico, and CBN put online betting squarely into Brazil’s 2026 election conversation. For PSPs and operators, the important part is not the rhetoric; it is that major campaigns are now talking about tighter advertising rules, higher taxes, and even platform shutdowns.

1. On Tuesday (15/9) in São Paulo, economic advisers from six presidential campaigns discussed what to do with sports betting, and the answers ranged from stronger taxation to total elimination of the platforms.
2. The event brought together Dario Durigan, Minister of Finance and representative of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT); Luiz Carlos Hauly, federal deputy and adviser to Augusto Cury (Avante); Kim Kataguiri, federal deputy and spokesperson for Renan Santos (Missão); Carlos da Costa, former special secretary at the Ministry of Economy and representative of Romeu Zema (Novo); and Roberto Brant, former federal deputy and spokesperson for Ronaldo Caiado (PSD).
3. Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign (PL), which is second in the polls according to the latest Quaest survey, declined the invitation and did not send a representative, so it was absent from the betting discussion as well.
4. The most repeated line in the debate was to regulate betting in the same way as tobacco. Durigan, Kataguiri, and Brant all backed some form of advertising restriction, with Durigan also arguing that the state should treat betting “in the same rigorous way it deals with smoking,” using heavy taxation and severe limits.
5. Durigan said the current administration had already regulated the sector in 2023, barred Bolsa Família and BPC beneficiaries, as well as users registered in the Desenrola program, from accessing betting platforms, and banned prediction markets at the start of 2026. He also signaled another tightening, saying credit regulation would be improved “including restricting bets even more.”
6. Kataguiri proposed that betting sites themselves should be required to display warnings about the harms of gambling on their pages, similar to the warnings printed on cigarette packs. Brant, speaking for Caiado, backed a total ban on sports-betting advertising in the media and in sports entities, while warning that banning betting itself, not just the advertising, could push the sector into illegality.

Carlos da Costa, representing Romeu Zema, took the most radical position in the debate and argued for the total extinction of betting platforms. The source cuts off before giving Augusto Cury’s full position, so that part remains unclear.