Brazil may send provisional measure to Congress this week to ban online casino gaming

Reports say Brazil’s federal government is preparing a provisional measure that would tighten rules on regulated betting operators and could prohibit online casino gaming. For PSPs and acquirers in the country, the useful detail is not the politics; it is that a provisional measure can take effect faster than a regular bill, so the compliance timeline could get short very quickly.

1. According to Focus Gaming News Brasil, sources close to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) say the text is meant to reach Brazil’s National Congress this week. One of the measures under discussion is a ban on online casino gaming, which Lula da Silva has already said he supports.
2. The Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA), which sits under the Ministry of Finance, is pushing for softer measures and wants enforcement focused on clandestine platforms instead. That sets up the usual split: the regulator is talking about channeling activity, while the political side is talking about restriction.
3. The government is reportedly relying on polling by the Workers’ Party (PT), which shows approximately 75 per cent of Brazilians oppose betting operations. The rejection is said to be strongest among women and young people, both of which matter politically in Lula’s re-election campaign.
4. Separate from the provisional measure, a bill in the Chamber of Deputies proposes individual betting limits of R$ 100 (US$ 19.65) per day and R$ 500 (US$ 98.25) per week. Bill 5.317/2026, sponsored by Representatives Eduardo da Fonte (PP-PE) and Lula da Fonte (PP-PE), would create a Public Policy on Responsible Gaming and require limits to be calculated across all licensed platforms using the same CPF tax ID.
5. The bill would also force operators to build systems that prevent users from exceeding those limits and classify customers as low, moderate, high, or critical risk based on betting frequency, financial volume, attempts to exceed limits, and simultaneous use of multiple platforms. It would create a National Responsible Gaming Registryy (CNJR) tied to CPF data, with declined attempts, risk classification, preventive interventions, alerts, and blocks, and operators would have to check it in real time before registration, login, deposits, bets, withdrawals, and prize payouts.

Advertising would also get tighter under the bill: betting ads on free-to-air television would be limited to 10pm to 6am, while social media ads would have to carry the warnings “Betting causes addiction” and “Betting is not an investment.” They would also have to be aimed only at adults.