Brazil’s Finance Minister Dario Durigan said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would have preferred to eliminate online betting altogether, as the government revealed that 6.2 million Brazilians have already been prevented from accessing regulated betting platforms.
In an interview with Rádio Metrópole on Friday, Durigan defended the government’s regulatory approach while acknowledging its increasingly restrictive stance toward betting. He argued that Brazil needs to limit gambling without creating conditions that would allow an illegal market to expand.
“President Lula says he doesn’t like betting and, if it were up to him, he would have ended betting,” Durigan said, adding that he shares a similar view. However, outright prohibition would not necessarily be effective given how deeply betting has become established in Brazil.
More than 6 million Brazilians blocked from betting
Durigan highlighted the scale of the restrictions already implemented by the government. According to the minister, 5 million people are currently prevented from accessing online betting platforms because of government measures.
The figure includes beneficiaries of Bolsa Família and the Continuous Benefit Payment (BPC), who are blocked through their CPF, as well as participants in the Desenrola debt renegotiation program, for whom restrictions on betting are a condition of participation.
A further 1.2 million Brazilians have voluntarily requested self-exclusion, bringing the total number of people removed from regulated betting platforms to approximately 6.2 million.
The self-exclusion system was introduced by the Ministry of Finance at the end of 2025 and allows users with a gov.br account to request a nationwide block. Once activated, the restriction applies across all legally regulated betting websites and apps in Brazil.
Durigan blames years without effective regulation
The minister also criticized previous governments for allowing online betting to expand without an effective regulatory framework.
Digital betting was authorized in Brazil in 2018 during Michel Temer’s administration, but comprehensive regulation was not established until 2023 under Lula. Durigan said betting companies spent years operating without effective controls while establishing a presence in Brazilian football, advertising, television, radio and Congress.
“We had to start work back in 2023 to end the anarchy left by the Temer and Bolsonaro governments,” he said.
Durigan argued that the sector’s established presence makes a return to outright prohibition difficult and could encourage unlicensed operators.
Brazil could treat betting like cigarettes
Looking ahead, Durigan compared the government’s approach to its long-term strategy for tobacco, suggesting that higher taxes and progressively stronger restrictions could reduce betting consumption without eliminating the legal market entirely.
“We have to treat betting like cigarettes, which have high taxation,” he said, pointing to Brazil’s reduction in smoking rates as an example.
The approach would therefore seek to make betting increasingly expensive and restricted rather than prohibit it outright. For the government, the challenge is balancing consumer protection and gambling reduction against the risk that excessive restrictions could push players toward illegal betting sites.