Brazil’s labor minister backs banning bets to protect workers from gambling-related harm

Brazil’s Labor and Employment Minister Luiz Marinho said bets should be banned in the country, arguing that gambling addiction is causing illness, debt, and lower productivity inside companies. For PSPs and acquirers touching Brazil, this is the kind of political pressure that can spill into licensing, merchant policy, and employer-facing compliance conversations.

1. Marinho made the comments on Tuesday, 4/8, during the Summit Mulheres Profissões in São Paulo. The position was reported by Folha de S.Paulo, and the minister framed the issue as a labor problem rather than just a betting-market one.
2. “Certo mesmo é proibir, é acabar, porque se está trazendo adoecimento, empobrecimento e endividamento, é um problema sério,” he told Folha. He also said society should pressure the Congresso Nacional to legislate on the issue, adding that only Congress can decide to change the law.
3. According to the report, the debate has already reached companies, with ludopatia, or gambling addiction, affecting productivity, creating employee absences, and raising dismissal costs. That matters for employers, but it also matters for payment providers that sell into payroll, HR, or workplace-benefit ecosystems around the betting economy.
4. Marinho pointed to NR-1 (Norma Regulamentadora 1), which requires companies to map psychosocial risks at work, as a tool to address illness linked both to bets addiction and to mental health more broadly. He said inspectors from the Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego (MTE) are already visiting employers and guiding them on how to implement the measures set out in the rule.
5. He also criticized business sectors that went to the Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) seeking more time before the MTE can fine companies for non-compliance. Justice André Mendonça granted an additional 90-day period for the government and companies to talk before any enforcement fine can be applied, and Marinho said he does not oppose a longer period without fines as long as companies actually move toward implementation.

Marinho tied the same labor-health argument to the debate over the 6×1 work schedule, saying delays in discussing working-time changes help sustain a model that contributes to illness. For high-risk operators, the takeaway is simple: betting in Brazil is no longer being discussed only as a consumer issue, but as part of a broader labor and compliance conversation.