Lula government orders betting houses to deactivate portals and redirect users
Measure comes into force next Tuesday (6) and aims to protect consumers and ensure compliance with provisional measure
Quick Look
- The federal government ordered online betting houses to deactivate their services from Tuesday (6), redirecting users to an official portal.
- The measure aims to protect consumers, while the sector challenges the legality of the decision in the STF.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The federal government published a provisional measure prohibiting the operation of bets in Brazil on the 25th. The sector is challenging the measure in court in the Federal Supreme Court.
São Paulo The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) determined, on Friday night (2), that all online betting houses, known as bets, deactivate their portals and applications and redirect users to the website www.brasilsembets.gov.br from Tuesday (6).
According to a letter from the Ministry of Justice, the regulatory instruction for the provisional measure that banned betting in Brazil on the 25th comes into effect at 0:01 on Tuesday.
Failure to comply with this order, as well as the hiding of alternative domains or attempts at technological evasion, will subject the violating company, its controllers and legal representatives to applicable sanctions, says the document. Fines can reach R$2 billion.
The government website will present detailed and official instructions so that bettors know how to proceed to fully redeem the amounts and financial balances held in their accounts on betting platforms.
It will also centralize materials and awareness campaigns aimed at users about the risks of the activity and prevention of over-indebtedness.
The ANJL (National Association of Games and Lotteries) recommendation is that companies refuse the determination, on the grounds that the issue is the subject of dispute in the STF (Supreme Federal Court).
"ANJL considers the determination to be absurd, electoral and legally illegal, in addition to being a way for the federal government to use its private domains to promote government institutional communication", states the entity that represents the betting sector.
The bets spokeswoman also says that the order from the Ministry of Justice would make bookmakers use their own servers and cloud infrastructure at the service of the government.
This Friday, minister Luiz Fux asked the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) for information about the provisional measure that prohibited betting from operating in Brazil. The AGU (Advocacy General of the Union) has 72 hours to comment on the matter.
Therefore, any deliberation on the merits of the online betting debate should only be held after the first round of the 2026 elections, scheduled for this Sunday (4).
According to the government, the redirection of bet traffic aims to protect consumer rights and ensure compliance with the provisional measure.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Deactivation of betting portals from August 6th.
Very likely · Within days
Open Questions
- What will the technical process for users to redeem balances be like?
- What will be the STF’s final decision on the provisional measure?
