Lula is set to announce a tougher bets crackdown in Brazil on Wednesday, with artists gathered in Rio’s Lapa

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is preparing a measure targeting the country’s online betting market on Wednesday (23), just as he heads to a Rio de Janeiro rally backed by artists including Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia, and Chico Buarque. For PSPs and operators, the useful part is not the theater; it is the policy direction: tighter rules on bets, and possibly a ban on online casinos.

1. On Wednesday morning in Brasília, Lula is scheduled to meet economic ministers and representatives from other ministries to finalize the details of the measure. In the evening, he will appear in Rio de Janeiro at “Cultura com Lula” at Fundição Progresso, in Lapa, with the event set to start at 19h and gates opening at 16h.
2. The rally is expected to bring together about 1,000 people, including political leaders and at least 80 cultural figures. The organization is led by 342 Artes, the collective headed by producer Paula Lavigne, the same group that launched the “Block no Tigrinho” campaign in June and created the “Bora Lula” movement during the election campaign.
3. Lula publicly committed to “end the bets” during a campaign event in Guarulhos (SP) on Friday (18), saying he would issue the MP on Wednesday (23). The Planalto wants the move in place before the first round, scheduled for 4 October.
4. On Tuesday (22), Lula took the message to the UN, saying at the opening of the 81st General Assembly that the billion-dollar online betting industry turns addiction into profit and that Brazil will not tolerate that business model. Also on Tuesday, José Guimarães, Minister of Institutional Relations, confirmed that the president is preparing an MP for tighter regulation of bets, without giving details.
5. According to Brasil de Fato, Lula has two draft options: a softer version would eliminate online casinos, while a more direct version would eliminate bets altogether. The most cited scenario in the press is the first one: online casinos banned, sports betting retained, and advertising subject to tighter restrictions.

That softer outcome is being linked to backlash from football, after federations and clubs from Série A and Série B issued the manifesto “O fim do futebol brasileiro,” arguing that the sector faced insolvency risk and losses of up to R$ 1.