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Lula Vows "no Love to Gambling" In Brazil's Election Year

President Lula has moved securely into "early project mode" as the brand-new protections for social networks platforms. Leonardo Biazzi and Elisa Marcante report on how the outstanding policies of the Bets routine are being reframed through a broader lens of 'civic responsibilities'... political bargaining is expected in an election year.
The PT government has actually threatened to take a 'tougher instructions' on gaming as a brand-new round of finger-wagging begins in Brazilian politics over the governance of an unsettled online market.
On Monday (9 February), speaking at a health care and education top in São Paulo, President Inácio 'Lula' da Silva as soon as again provided a speech important of the 'Bets' regulatory routine for online betting.
Though introduced under his tenure in 2025, President Lula declares that he has been one of the strongest challengers of online gambling, preserving that he holds "really serious concerns" about the sector.
In early project mode, as he prepares to battle for a fourth governmental term, Lula informed audiences: "We will take an extremely major action versus the 'bets'. They are taking money from the poor people of this country."
Lula makes 'BBB' stance clear
The rhetoric lines up with the PT federal government's populist motto of "BBB Tax - billionaires, banks and bets" - a message that will be communicated to citizens ahead of Brazil's General Election on 4 October.
There is no uncertainty in the President's position, with the industry now securely in his sights. Lula was vital of all gambling activities, specifying: "I discovered to be against gambling. I protested gambling establishments and the illegal numbers game since the church taught me that I had to oppose gaming.
"What is occurring today is that the gambling establishment has actually gone inside people's homes. It remains in the living-room, in your children's hands."
The President cleaning his party's hands of gambling liabilities will amaze nobody. Yet stress and anxieties remain amongst licensees, who now deal with fresh curveballs over how Brazil intends to settle the impressive affairs of its still-maturing online gaming program.
Political interventions continued today as Brasília signified that gambling will as soon as again sit at the centre of a more comprehensive cultural and regulative debate.
Brazil ponders social media restrictions
On the very same day as Lula's remarks, Bloomberg reported that the federal government is preparing a governmental decree targeted at enhancing kid protections in online environments.
Citing a draft text, Bloomberg described proposals that would require app shops and digital platforms to carry out robust age-verification systems to prevent minors from accessing gambling, porn and other age-restricted content.
The mandate might see Brazil end up being the very first South American country to introduce particular digital access constraints extending beyond simple self-declared age checks. The Senate is expected to take a look at propositions for a government-backed confirmation framework, along with data-protection safeguards created to resolve privacy issues.
The timing is significant. By connecting wagering to wider concerns around youth direct exposure and digital harm, the PT federal government appears to be placing betting within a wider civic and social-protection narrative.
Brazil now joins a growing list of nations weighing more stringent controls on social networks platforms. Australia has already carried out a restriction on under-16 access to specific platforms, while Spain and several European states are analyzing similar restrictions.
President Lula has long been important of Silicon Valley technology companies, and several PT figures have openly assaulted X (formerly Twitter), implicating the platform of deliberately spreading out misinformation in Brazil.
Trade-off on gambling ads
Elsewhere, developments are accelerating in Brasília. In 2026, the Senate and Chamber of Deputies must settle the final terms of a specific bill addressing betting marketing - an issue that has quickly intensified from regulative fine-tuning to the possibility of a nationwide restriction.
Proceedings have actually currently gathered rate. The Senate's Science and Technology Committee (CCT) has actually authorized a bill offering an across the country restriction on wagering marketing and sponsorships, backed by rapporteur Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF).
The proposal changes the structure of Law No. 14,790/ 2023 and now advances to the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) before a potential plenary vote.
Industry stakeholders, including the Instituto Brasileiro de Jogo Responsável (IBJR) trade body, have actually alerted that a blanket ban dangers destabilising the regulated market simply as it tries to mature.
Yet the gambling advertising decree stays in its infancy, without any political bloc in Congress or the Senate freely declaring which bill they intend to support.
Keeping cards near to the chest is an expected method in an election year. The governance of betting divides viewpoint not only in between the PT government and the Bolsonaro family-led Liberal Party, but within party ranks themselves.