Lula Pledges to End Online Betting in Brazil, Announces New Measures

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told crowds at two campaign events on September 24, 2026 that he will end online betting in Brazil, and said his government will present new measures against family indebtedness on September 25, 2026, according to official accounts published by his Workers’ Party.

Speaking at a rally in Praça Deodoro, in Maceió, on the night of September 24, Lula reaffirmed his commitment to end the betting platforms known in Brazil as bets. “I will end the bets before they end Brazil and lead people to illness,” he said, per the Workers’ Party’s account of the rally. He told supporters to expect announcements on family indebtedness on September 25 and said he is preparing measures tied to the credit card and to oversight of how the Pix payment system is used.

Lula distinguished borrowing that improves a family’s life from debt driven by gambling. He told the crowd that taking on debt to buy clothes for a child, a new television, a computer, or to build a house is valid, but that going into debt for gambling is not possible. The party’s account framed the confrontation with betting platforms as a question of protecting families, describing platforms that have placed a casino within anyone’s reach, inside their own home.

Lula also rejected the argument from football clubs that an end to the bets would harm the sport. He recalled that Brazilian clubs and national sides won titles before those companies existed and demanded respect for supporters, who the account notes already commit part of their income to tickets and shirts. He then asked the Alagoas crowd to vote for his reelection, for Renan Filho of the MDB party for governor of Alagoas, and for Renan Calheiros and Dr. Wanderley for the Senate, telling supporters that anyone voting for him should also back his Senate candidates so he has a majority and can pass measures for them.

Same Pledge at São Gonçalo Walk

Hours earlier, after a walk with supporters in São Gonçalo, in Rio de Janeiro state, Lula had delivered the same pledge in blunt terms. “Get ready, because I will end the bets,” he said, and was interrupted by applause and chants from the crowd, according to the party’s account of the event. He said it is not possible for Brazilian society to be in debt up to its neck because of the bets. First lady Janja Lula da Silva took part in the walk alongside Rio gubernatorial candidate Eduardo Paes of the PSD and Senate candidates Benedita da Silva of the PT and Pedro Paulo of the PSD.

In São Gonçalo, Lula criticized the football clubs that signed a letter warning that the end of online sports betting would mean the end of football, repeating that the biggest titles those clubs, and the Brazilian national team, have won came before the betting companies existed. He asked who fills the Maracanã and who buys Flamengo shirts for their families, answering that it is fans from the outskirts and salaried supporters, and questioned whether it is fair for a club to lean on betting money to pay a player R$3 million while the people earn R$2,500. Addressing the women in the crowd directly, he repeated that he will end the bets.

Lula closed with an appeal for supporters to work for a first-round victory on October 4, 2026, and underlined the weight of the Senate vote, telling the crowd that without allies in the Senate a president cannot pass what needs to be passed.

Existing Curbs on Licensed Operators

The federal government has already restricted who can hold accounts with licensed operators. The Ministry of Finance announced on August 20, 2026 that beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família and BPC welfare programs, participants in debt-renegotiation programs, and borrowers under the Fies student-loan scheme can no longer open or keep accounts with licensed betting houses in Brazil, following a decision of the Supreme Federal Court. The restriction runs through a module called Impedidos, built by Serpro for the ministry’s Prizes and Betting Secretariat inside Sigap, the technology platform used to regulate, monitor and oversee the country’s betting market, which checks users automatically by cross-referencing their CPF tax numbers. The ministry said the module has blocked more than 3 million people since its rollout began in October 2025, while Sigap as a whole processes around 500 million records a day and holds more than 5 million files.

Authorized operators consult the system in real time when a user registers and at the first login of each day, and the response indicates whether the user is barred and the specific reason. When an existing account is flagged, the platform has up to three days to close it and must return the full balance to the holder. The ministry said the decision to refuse registration or close an account rests with the operator, with no manual intervention in the process, that the block applies to the individual’s CPF regardless of the origin of the funds wagered, that it carries no other penalty for the beneficiary, and that responsibility for compliance sits with the platform rather than the blocked citizen.

Presentation Scheduled for São Paulo

The Presidency has scheduled a presentation for September 25. An official advisory published by the Planalto Palace on September 24, 2026 states that Lula will take part in the presentation of new measures to protect families and the popular economy at 17:00 Brasília time on September 25, 2026, at Edifício Matarazzo, Avenida Paulista 1230, in São Paulo.