Brazil’s regulated betting sector uses SBC Digital Brasil Day to push back on narratives ahead of STF hearing

In six panels and more than five hours of debate, 38 specialists took aim at the myths around Brazil’s regulated betting market, criticized how both the industry and the government have communicated the issue, and argued for a negotiated outcome at the Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) over the provisional measure that banned bets.

1. SBC held an extraordinary edition of SBC Digital Brasil Day on Wednesday (28/10), devoted entirely to the crisis in Brazil’s regulated betting market triggered by the provisional measure issued by President Lula on 25 September. The online event was free, ran from 11h to the end of the afternoon, and featured 38 speakers across six panels.
2. The format was built around “fact or fake,” with journalists Leonardo, Isadora Marcante and Elisa Marcante moderating discussions aimed at people outside the industry. The event drew average live attendance of about 100 people on the SBC Notícias Brasil YouTube channel, and it had support from ANJL, Abrajogo, the Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) and BNLData.
3. One line kept resurfacing throughout the panels, repeated by several participants: BNLData editor Magnho José’s maxim that “gambling is legal or illegal, non-gambling is impossible.”
4. The six blocks covered the full legal and commercial mess around the market: how Brazil got here; the differences between legal and illegal betting and the compliance obligations for authorised operators; consumer protection risks such as underage betting, debt and addiction; advertising, affiliates and influencers; the impact of the crisis on jobs, companies, sport and the economy; and the choice between regulating or banning betting in Brazil.
5. In the opening panel, Magnho José retraced the legislative history and noted that physical gambling has been prohibited in Brazil for 85 years, with exceptions for lotteries and the bingo period. In 2018, betting was added to Law 13.756, at the initiative of the Ministry of Finance, as “fixed-odds betting,” marking the starting point for the current regulated framework that is now under pressure.