Brazil’s Polymarket ban still leaves the site accessible as presidential betting volume hits $147 million

Polymarket has been blocked in Brazil since April 2026, at least on paper. In practice, users can still reach it, and a single market tied to Brazil’s presidential election has already drawn $147 million, which is exactly the kind of enforcement gap PSPs and acquirers need to watch when a jurisdiction starts tightening the screws.

1. On Thursday, September 10, Brazil rose to second place in Polymarket’s trending topics ranking, behind only a PSV vs Sparta Rotterdam match. The platform still has dozens of markets linked to Brazilian elections, including bets on the presidential race and gubernatorial contests in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Minas Gerais, and Amapá.
2. According to O Globo, one market linked to the Brazilian presidential election has already moved $147 million, or about R$ 750.8 million. Until Thursday morning, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was leading that market; by around 6 p.m., Flávio Bolsonaro had moved into the lead.
3. Brazil’s Ministry of Finance said Polymarket is blocked in the country, along with its linked social media accounts. The ministry also said that occasional access by some users does not mean the company has authorization to operate in Brazil or that the blocking measures have been lifted.
4. The block was ordered by the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets of the Ministry of Finance (SPA-MF) and sent to the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), which notified more than 20,000 telecom service providers to enforce it. Because implementation depends on each provider, the same domain can be reachable at some times and unavailable at others.
5. The ministry said that even when the page can still be opened, users cannot place bets or make deposits. It also said the SPA monitors the effectiveness of the measures and any attempts to bypass the restrictions. Anatel has blocked nearly 30 prediction-market sites, including Polymarket and Kalshi, which has a Brazilian among its founders.

There is also a payments angle here. In April, Brazil’s National Monetary Council (CMN) prohibited financial and payment institutions from providing services related to unauthorized betting and prediction markets under Brazilian law. For PSPs, that means the risk is not just geo-blocking; it is whether local banks and processors are allowed to touch the flow at all.