Brazil re-elects Lula da Silva, and the future of betting remains unsettled

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil’s presidential runoff on 25 October 2026, but the betting market he moved to ban is still hanging on congressional arithmetic. For operators, the key point is simple: the executive has made its position clear, yet the legal outcome now depends on a Congress where the opposition holds the largest blocs.

1. With all polling stations counted, Lula da Silva received 64.256.232 votes, or 51.79% of valid votes. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro got 59.826.041 votes, or 48.21%. Bolsonaro had led the first round on 4 October with 47.03%.
2. Bolsonaro does not accept the result. According to EFE, he questioned the transparency of the process and demanded that the election be annulled. Another outlet reported that he said he would seek to invalidate the election. He also claimed that the judge who authorized extending voting was Lula da Silva’s lawyer; that statement is Bolsonaro’s own, and the sources consulted did not detail evidence of irregularities.
3. Nine days before the first round, Lula da Silva announced a ban on online betting. According to Gazeta do Povo, the measure would end sports betting and virtual games. Bolsonaro criticized the move and warned about its impact on legal certainty and football clubs. During the regulatory debate, he also argued for a distinction between sports betting and online casino games, which he had previously rejected.
4. The ban is being imposed through a medida provisoria, a decree with the force of law that the president can issue without prior congressional approval but that loses effect if lawmakers do not approve it. The measure, numbered 1.394, was issued on 25 September and must be voted on before 25 November. The deadline can be extended by 60 days. Lula da Silva said betting will not return, but the decision does not depend on him alone.
5. That is where the trouble starts. The Partido Liberal (PL), Bolsonaro’s party, will hold the largest bloc in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. That makes approval of the ban, in the executive’s current form, difficult. iGaming Business reports that Congress is considering a version in which only sports betting returns, while online casinos remain prohibited. No final legislative decision has been made, and another open question is what happens to authorizations granted before the ban. If the market reopens, lawmakers may need to set fresh rules on license validity and the conditions for resuming operations.

Brazil’s betting sector has already gone through several legal swings in a few years. Betting was legalized in 2018, and the latest fight is not about whether the market exists, but about which parts of it survive, under what license terms, and after how much legislative drag.