Brazil’s Lula keeps sports betting decision on hold after consulting civil society

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says he will decide the future of sports betting in Brazil after reviewing consultations with civil society groups, but he is not saying what the decision will be yet. For PSPs and payment teams, the important part is simple: Brazil is still a live policy risk, and the president has made clear that both a ban and tougher controls remain on the table.

1. Lula said he listened to “around ten or eleven” people and organizations before making up his mind, including critics of betting platforms and people who told him about family debt and suicides linked to gambling. He said: “I called all the entities involved in these bets: those who complained, those who feel their families are being cheated, those who know people who killed themselves over betting debts. But I’m not going to make a decision alone. I am not president of myself, I am president of 215 million inhabitants.”
2. The remarks came during a live interview on SBT Brasil, broadcast from the Palacio da Alvorada and hosted by Basília Rodrigues and Marina Demori. The program aired from 8:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and was later rebroadcast by SBT News.
3. Lula had already signaled his personal view on 1 September in a meeting at the Palacio del Planalto with civil society organizations. At that meeting, he said he was personally in favor of banning betting in Brazil: “I think we need to take a more drastic decision, because we don’t even have inflation on the demand side.”
4. He also argued that taxation is not an effective control tool for betting if it does not reduce profitability. In his words, taxes only become a constraint when they cut into gains, and that does not happen with betting. He added that many of these companies are not based in Brazil and do not pay taxes to Brazilian authorities, which in his view makes taxation even less effective as a regulatory tool.
5. For payment providers, the practical takeaway is that the government is still weighing a stricter stance on a sector where company structure and tax presence matter. If Lula moves toward prohibition or tighter restrictions, the impact would not stop at operators; it would run straight through acquiring, payment acceptance, and any PSP supporting the market.