Brazil is scraping off its regulated online betting market barely two years ago after debut. Deposits have stopped and players are being refunded as licensed operators take the fight to the Supreme Federal Court for a chance of reinstatement.
Brazil has suddenly bailed out on the regulated online betting market it launched no so long ago, in January 2025. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed Provisional Measure 1,394 on September 25 to effectively ban operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds sports betting and online casino games. Moreover, this order also applies to offshore operators that have been serving gamblers in Brazil.
Notably, this timing has attracted almost as much attention as the ban itself as Lula acted nine days before the first round of a tight presidential election. His opponents have since called the move electioneering, while the government insists it is responding to addiction, family debt and a growing public-health problem.
As soon as the measure was published, new deposits stopped across all internet gambling platforms in the South America’s largest economy. Players now have until 11:59 p.m. on October 5 to withdraw their balances, and all betting websites and apps are required to start going offline the following day.
Operators will then send banks each customer’s CPF tax number, balance, and originating account details on October 7 and 8. From there, banks are supposed to start issuing refunds between October 9 and 14. After that, Caixa Econômica Federal, the state-owned savings bank, will handle any funds that can’t be returned through the normal process.
Further, gaming licenses formally expire on October 25, and the R$30 million ($5.8 million) fee paid for each five-year authorization will not be refunded. Around 85 fees were paid, leaving roughly R$2.55 billion ($492 million) with the country’s Treasury.
When making the controversial move, Lula described online betting as a ‘cancer’, arguing that regulation had failed to stop the damage. According to recent government figures, gambling left a R$62.5 billion ($12 billion) hole in household budgets during 2025.
According to the president, the Brazilian government was also concerned about the impact of the activity on the younger generation. For instance, about 20.4% of students in the final years of elementary and secondary school said they had placed online bets. Meanwhile, among 12th-grade students, the figure rose to 49.7%.
As the Brazilian government continues with its plan to block websites, freeze accounts and investigate illegal payment flows, the scale of that task is already showing.
Between January 1 and September 22, regulators referred 57,691 web addresses for blocking. Bet Legal also recorded a jump in detected illegal domains from 295 to 710 over the first weekend after the ban.
Come September 28, ANJL and the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming filed a joint petition with the Supreme Federal Court. They want the measure suspended, existing licenses protected or operators given at least six months to close. Besides that, Anseja has filed a separate constitutional challenge.
According to the association’s argument, Lula did not establish the urgency required to use a provisional measure. Meanwhile, Congress still has up to 120 days to make the ban permanent. Whether that decision sticks may now rest on the Supreme Court.
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