Brazil plans new betting restrictions and a fresh tax push as Lula’s campaign continues

Brazil’s federal government is preparing another round of restrictions and taxes on betting businesses, following advertising and marketing limits that took effect in July. For PSPs, acquirers, and operators in the regulated market, the important part is simple: the rulebook is still moving, and it is moving in more than one direction at once.

1. Brazilian media report that the government has already finalised a new decree, which is now awaiting technical evaluation by the Ministry of Finance through its Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA). According to Folha de S. Paulo, the restrictions are expected to be published next week, although it remains unclear what the measures will ultimately cover.
2. Among the measures backed by SPA are a five-second interval between each bet, a ban on autoplay betting, and the prohibition of sound effects that encourage betting activity. The decree has reportedly been discussed between the office of President Lula da Silva and SPA, as well as the National Secretariat for Digital Rights (SEDIGI), the Consumer Protection Secretariat (Senacon), the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, and the Secretariat for Social Communication (SECOM).
3. The move is the latest in President Lula’s campaign to roll back Brazil’s gambling sector. He approved the Bets Law in late 2024, which created the regulated market as of 1 January 2025, but since launch he has repeatedly criticised online gambling licences, calling them predatory to Brazilian families and targeting poor people and those receiving welfare assistance.
4. The Bets regime began with an unsettled regulatory framework, with key provisions on compliance, safer gambling, consumer protection, and advertising still unfinished. That matters because Brazil is not just tightening one rule; it is trying to build the market and restrain it at the same time, which is never a comfortable setup for operators or their payment partners.
5. Tax is the other shoe. In 2025, sign-up offers and incentives were prohibited, and the Senate agreed to a new tax plan on GGR that will raise taxes from 12% to 18% by 2028. On top of that, Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) government wants to bring fixed-odds sports betting companies into the Tax Reform programme, expected to take effect in 2027, where betting would fall under the new Selective Tax alongside products such as cigarettes.

For high-risk providers, the operating question in Brazil is not whether regulation is arriving. It already has. The question is how much more friction the government adds, and whether the next change lands in advertising, product design, or the tax bill.