Presidential candidates want more restrictions on sports betting.
The 2026 election season has arrived with an issue that has remained on the fringes of political debate for years and now occupies the center of the presidential race: online sports betting. Candidates for the presidency from different parties have begun advocating for restrictions on the sector in recent weeks, and the numbers explain why the topic has become impossible to ignore.
In 2025 alone, Brazilians spent R$ 220 billion on authorized betting platforms. Of that total, R$ 36,9 billion remained with the betting houses. Approximately 25 million people placed at least one bet throughout the year, and the impact on family budgets is growing steadily.
From promise to structural problem
The candidates' proposals vary in tone and scope. Romeu Zema promised to shut down betting operations on the very first day of a potential government of his. Ronaldo Caiado signaled a harsh approach to the sector. Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro also positioned themselves in favor of restrictions. Columnist Vera Magalhães, from the newspaper O Globo, summarizes the convergence: "Betting has definitively entered the presidential campaign."
The ground on which this dispute is being waged has been built over almost a decade. Sports betting was legalized during Michel Temer's government in 2018. However, market regulation lagged behind: Jair Bolsonaro did not complete it, and for four years companies grew in a regulatory gray area, operating from abroad without effective supervision. In 2023, Lula's government regulated and taxed the sector; Congress went further and expanded the legislation to include online games like Tigrinho.
A sector already deeply entrenched in the economy.
The result of this trajectory is an industry deeply integrated into the Brazilian economy. The government collects taxes on these operations. Advertising on betting platforms has become a significant source of revenue for football clubs, whose financial dependence on the sector is visible on the shirts of teams in the top divisions of the national championship.
Magalhães summarizes the dilemma faced by those who promise to act: "The hard part is putting the toothpaste back in the tube." Promising to be tough on bets during a campaign is relatively simple; explaining how to do it, within what timeframe, and without serious collateral consequences is another matter.
The main pitfall pointed out by the columnist is the migration of bettors to the black market. Poorly calibrated restrictions on the regulated market could push the 25 million users to illegal platforms, where there is no taxation, consumer protection, or access control. "Reducing the social and economic damage now, without simply pushing these bettors into the black market, is much more difficult," stated Magalhães.
Brazil took only a few years to build one of the world's largest betting industries. The next government will have to decide what to do with it, weighing the revenue the sector generates, the social damage it causes, and the real risk that repression will produce worse effects than the problem it tries to solve.
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