Brazil

Flávio Bolsonaro challenges betting ban ahead of Presidential run-off in Brazil

By James Marrison - 12 October 2026

Brazilian senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro has criticised the government’s prohibition of sports betting and online casino games, arguing that it undermines legal certainty for businesses that had entered the country’s regulated market.

Speaking in Brasília on October 7, the Liberal Party (PL) candidate said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s decision had affected betting companies, football clubs and other businesses connected to the sector.

“He attacked legal certainty, attacked the clubs and various companies,” Bolsonaro said, according to Folha.

Bolsonaro argued that enforcement should focus on unlicensed operators, while criticising the treatment of companies that had paid to enter the regulated market.

“Illegal betting operators really must be banned; they are not being supervised by the current government,” he said, according to R7. He also accused the government of taking money from regulated operators before abruptly prohibiting their businesses. However, he declined to say whether he would vote for or against the provisional measure introducing the ban.

The comments followed an earlier attack on the timing of the prohibition. On September 25, the day the government announced the measure, Bolsonaro accused Lula of electoral deception, arguing that the president was reversing his administration’s gambling policy just nine days before the first round of voting.

According to SBT News, Bolsonaro alleged that the government was presenting itself as solving a problem it had itself helped to create.

Bolsonaro has also distinguished between gambling products. In his September 25 comments, he said he would prohibit online casinos if elected, while indicating that sports betting could continue.

Bolsonaro and Lula will face each other on October 25 after neither secured an outright majority in the October 4 first round. With all votes counted, Bolsonaro received 47.03% of valid votes, compared with Lula’s 45.16%.

Online betting was legalised in Brazil under Law 13.756/2018, sanctioned by then-president Michel Temer, which required the government to regulate the sector within two years, with possible extensions. The deadline fell entirely within the presidency of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, father of current presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, who left office without completing the regulatory process. Regulation was subsequently pursued under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, culminating in Law 14.790/2023, signed in December 2023.