Brazil’s Workers’ Party pushes to reverse gambling legalisation with new bill
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- Brazil’s Workers’ Party has filed Bill PL-1808/2026, seeking to repeal the country’s fixed-odds betting and online gambling laws.
- Deputy Pedro Uczai introduced the bill on April 14, backed by 68 lawmakers including 65 of the PT’s 66 deputies in the Chamber.
- The move follows President Lula’s public statement that he would shut down betting companies if the decision were his alone.
Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party (PT) has tabled legislation to ban all fixed-odds betting nationwide, escalating political pressure on a market that has only operated under a fully licensed federal regime since January 2025.
Deputy Pedro Uczai, the PT’s leader in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, filed Bill PL-1808/2026 on April 14. The proposal prohibits the operation, promotion and facilitation of fixed-odds betting across Brazil, and revokes provisions of Laws 13,756 of 2018 and 14,790 of 2023, which together form the legal basis for licensed sports betting and online gaming in the country.
The bill drew 68 co-signatures, including 65 of the PT’s 66 deputies. Two PSOL members and one representative from the Rede party also backed the text.
Political backdrop
The filing follows an escalation in anti-gambling rhetoric from the country’s leadership. In an interview on April 8, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he would close betting companies if the decision were his alone, while acknowledging that congressional action would be required.
The stance represents a significant reversal. Lula signed the law legalizing fixed-odds online betting in December 2023, a bill originally drafted by Finance Minister Fernando Haddad as a revenue measure.
When the legislation passed through Congress, lawmakers expanded the text to include online casino games.
In justifying the bill, Uczai argues that betting platforms have ceased to function as digital entertainment and instead operate as a mechanism for draining household income, driving family debt, and creating mental health pressures on the population.
Scope of the ban
The bill’s reach is extensive. The text covers not only the operation of gambling platforms but extends to advertising, sponsorships, payment processing and any intermediary services tied to gambling activity.
The proposal directs Brazil’s national telecoms regulator, Anatel, to implement measures blocking access to prohibited betting sites and apps, including domain and IP blocking, removal from app stores, de-indexation from search engines, and interruption of hosting and payment flows.
This is not the first legislative attempt to reverse the gambling framework. A separate repeal bill was filed in 2025 by a congressman from Paraná, while a March 2026 bill targeted cashback, rewards and gamification features.
A data gap inquiry by another deputy earlier this year also pointed to ongoing concerns about the scale of unlicensed activity alongside the licensed market.
Election-year pressure
With Brazil’s general election set for October 4, 2026, and President Lula seeking re-election, political analysts note that the campaign narrative has increasingly positioned online betting as harmful to workers and families, a framing that aligns the ban bill directly with electoral strategy.
The bill nonetheless faces a difficult path in Congress. The industry’s financial ties to lawmakers and political parties create significant uncertainty around the congressional arithmetic needed to pass a full repeal.
A successful vote would unwind licensing commitments made by dozens of international operators since 2023 and require a structural dismantling of the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting’s regulatory infrastructure.
For operators with exposure to Brazil’s betting market, and investors monitoring President Lula’s position, the filing marks a material escalation in regulatory risk, regardless of whether the bill ultimately progresses through committee.
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