Brazil gaming rules face political pressure as Congress weighs casino ban and new licensing steps

Brazil’s betting market is being pulled in two directions: one track in Congress could ban online casino games, while the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) keeps pushing the regulatory machinery forward. For PSPs and operators, the useful question is not whether there is noise — there is plenty — but which changes are actually moving through the system.

1. Congress returned from recess on 3 August, and the government wants to advance PL 2,258/2026 before the first round of the elections. Introduced in May by Congressman Paulo Pimenta (Worker’s Party), the bill would amend the Betting Law to ban online casino games with results generated by electronic systems or algorithms, while leaving fixed-odds sports betting in place.
2. A second bill, Bill 1,808/2026, goes further and would fully repeal the regulatory framework. A third legislative initiative would restrict advertising, sponsorship and influencer marketing. President Lula, who in 2024 described integrated casinos as a source of tourism and tax revenue, has instructed his ministers to advocate for the ban.
3. On the regulatory side, the SPA has opened Public Consultation No. 3/2026 on the review of the authorisation process, with a deadline of 9 September. It is also preparing a decree on the design and operation of online casino games, drafted with the Ministry of Justice and the Secretariat of Social Communication (SECOM).
4. Advertising changes endorsed by SECOM came into effect in July. The National Association of Games and Lotteries has already met with the SPA to discuss the game-design ordinance and has proposed a phased implementation. A second licensing window is expected later this year.
5. The practical point is that PL 2,258/2026 does not dismantle the Brazilian regulated market as a whole. It targets a specific vertical defined by a technical feature: games whose results are generated by electronic systems or algorithms. Sports betting is outside the scope of the text, and the bill still has to clear committees, the Plenary and the Senate before presidential sanction can matter.

For investors, the key number is not the bill count — more than 200 bills related to the betting framework have been introduced since the market opened — but traction. Only three have gained traction so far, which is a useful reminder that legislative volume and legislative risk are not the same thing.