Lula Says Brazil Can Ban Sports Betting Without Killing Football as the Market Reaches 62 billion reais in 2025

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pushed back against club pressure to keep online sports betting legal, saying the country can shut down betting platforms without shutting down football. For PSPs and acquirers, the useful part is simple: this is no longer just a regulatory hygiene debate; it is a live political fight over a market Lula says generated 62 billion reais in 2025.

1. Speaking on Friday at a rally in Guarulhos, Lula rejected the argument from several major Brazilian clubs that banning online betting would damage the sport itself. He pointed to historic World Cup wins by São Paulo, Santos, Grêmio, Flamengo, Internacional and Corinthians before the betting boom and said: “The idea that ending betting will end football is nonsense.”
2. Lula also tied the issue to money laundering, corruption and fraud, saying: “We are going to end betting, money laundering, corruption and theft.” He described online gambling as an addiction rather than harmless entertainment, calling it “a disease called ludopathy,” and said compulsive betting leaves people in debt and lying to their families.
3. The president said the betting industry generated 62 billion reais in 2025 and acknowledged that a ban would reduce tax revenue. His answer to that trade-off was blunt: losing tax income is acceptable to him if it prevents vulnerable people from losing money through betting.
4. He also said he is not the owner of a betting house, but the president of the republic, and therefore would close them, while adding that the final decision depends on Congress. That matters for operators and payment providers because the policy signal is not a regulator’s tweak; it is an executive-level threat that still needs legislative backing.
5. Lula’s comments came one day after a group of clubs, football bodies and Brazil’s main radio and TV association published a manifesto defending the regulated betting market and advertising by companies authorized by the Ministry of Finance. The clubs said betting expansion creates “challenges,” especially for vulnerable users, but argued for stronger regulation, enforcement, education and prevention rather than prohibition.