Brazil’s online betting ban went unmentioned in Sunday’s televised debate between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT) and Liberal Party (PL) candidate Flávio Bolsonaro. It was their first meeting before the October 25 runoff.
The October 18 debate on Band covered public security, the economy, the INSS fraud scandal and the Banco Master case. Household debt came up, but neither candidate tied it to betting. Lula had cited debt when he signed Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026 on September 25, which banned fixed-odds betting and online casinos.
Flávio led the first round with 47% to Lula’s 45%. O Globo reported that Lula’s campaign believed the ban had hurt its result. Flávio had lunch with Globo’s leadership, and on October 16 in Ipatinga, Lula said the network was “angry” with him for ending betting.
Hours before the broadcast, the Federal Police referred a money laundering case to the Supreme Federal Court (STF). It involves Flávio, a senator who previously backed sports betting without online casinos, and lawyer Willer Tomaz. Investigators say Tomaz effectively controls Rede Loto, which Rio de Janeiro’s state lottery, Loterj, authorized in May 2023 to offer sports betting. Tomaz’s defense denies that Rede Loto ever operated as a betting platform.
The debate left several questions open: what happens to the measure in Congress and at the STF, around 30,000 sites flagged as suspicious after operator licenses were withdrawn, and the football club sponsorships that have been lost.
