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Brazil Senate Moves to Dismantle Bets Law: Advertising, Sponsorships, and Games in the Crosshairs

By jili tutorial · September 4, 2026

Brazil Senate Moves to Dismantle Bets Law: Advertising, Sponsorships, and Games in the Crosshairs

By Leonardo Biazzi

Brazil’s long-running political drama over online gambling has reached another turning point. On Wednesday, the Senate’s Science and Technology Committee (CCT) approved a package of measures known as the “Brazil Against Bets” bill — a proposal that would fundamentally dismantle the commercial framework of the country’s licensed betting market.

The bluntly named bill was presented by CCT chair Senator Damares Alves, who co-authored and endorsed the text alongside six other senators. She joins a growing list of politicians who want the Bets Law, now in its second year, scrapped. For them, the end of the regulated betting regime appears unavoidable — and almost everyone in Brasília seems to want their fingerprints on the final blow.

The bill makes no secret of its goal: to dismantle the commercial structure that supports Brazil’s newly regulated online gambling sector. If approved, it would impose a near-total advertising ban, end sportsbook sponsorships, and could remove several popular online casino products from the licensed market. The CCT also approved an urgency request, allowing the proposal to be fast-tracked to the full Senate. A nearly identical measure, Bill 2,478/2026, has been submitted to the Chamber of Deputies, giving the campaign a path through both houses of Congress.

What the “Brazil Against Bets” Bill Proposes

The bill’s original rapporteur, Alessandro Vieira, presented an amended text to the CCT. He framed the proposal as a response to growing public concern about gambling-related harm, not as an ideological attack on betting. “This is a non-partisan initiative,” he said. “It stems from society’s current understanding of the extent of the damage caused by so-called betting.”

That claim of consensus will be tested by the sheer scale of the proposed intervention. This is not a modest tightening of advertising rules. It is an attempt to make licensed betting businesses nearly invisible to the Brazilian public.

Advertising Blackout Would Hit Licensed Operators

The bill’s reach is striking. It would ban gambling advertising on television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and outdoor displays. Digital channels would face the same restrictions: streaming services, podcasts, social networks, video platforms, websites, apps, and search engines would all be covered. Operators would also be barred from using targeted ads, emails, text messages, and push notifications. Affiliates, tipsters, esports, and promotions inside video games would be included as well.

In practice, licensed bookmakers would be cut off from almost every conventional way of reaching customers. Whatever limited exceptions survive the legislative process would define the only space left for brand visibility.

The commercial clampdown would go further. Bonuses, promotional credits, free bets, cashback, free spins, and loyalty schemes designed to encourage betting would all be prohibited. That would make Brazil an awkward experiment: a regulated market where authorised operators can accept bets but can hardly explain their products or differentiate themselves from illegal competitors. Expect that tension to feature prominently when the Senate debates the bill.

Football Sponsorships Face a Two-Year Phaseout

The most immediate financial consequences would be felt by Brazil’s Série A clubs. Licensed operators would be barred from sponsoring clubs, federations, leagues, competitions, and sports broadcasts. Cultural events, concerts, educational projects, and social initiatives would also be off limits. Naming-rights deals, brand licensing, and ambassador agreements involving athletes, influencers, artists, and celebrities would be prohibited.

Existing sponsorship contracts would get a 24-month transition period, after which they would have to be terminated. Renewals and extensions during that period would be allowed only in narrow circumstances — mainly where an existing agreement expires before the transition window closes.

Brazilian football has become deeply dependent on betting money. Most Série A clubs have a bookmaker as their principal sponsor, and both the Brasileirão and Copa do Brasil have operator partnerships. Removing that funding within two years would force clubs and competitions to hunt for replacement revenue in an already crowded sponsorship market. Lawmakers may see that disruption as the necessary price for reducing gambling’s cultural visibility. Football executives are unlikely to agree.

High-Risk Games Could Be Banned

The bill doesn’t stop at advertising. It would create a classification system based on the potential harm of different gambling products. Roulette, online slots, crash games, and simulated virtual sports could be placed in an “excessive-risk” category and removed from the regulated market altogether. That would mark a major retreat from Brazil’s decision to allow online games alongside fixed-odds sports betting.

This creates another regulatory dilemma. Banning popular products doesn’t necessarily eliminate demand. It may simply push customers toward offshore websites, where Brazil’s consumer protection rules, taxation, and monitoring requirements carry little weight.

Tougher Sanctions and a Cooling-Off Period

The measure pairs restrictions on licensed operators with tougher penalties for the illegal market. Advertising an unauthorised betting service would become a criminal offence, punishable by one to five years in prison. Sentences could be increased by one-sixth to two-thirds when the promotion is done by influencers, athletes, or other prominent personalities.

Vieira also added a 24-month revolving-door restriction. Gambling executives would be barred from moving directly into public bodies responsible for licensing, regulation, and supervision. Officials working in those institutions would face the same waiting period before joining the betting industry.

The Political Push to End Bets

The committee vote followed a public hearing in which government and industry representatives made the widening divide over gambling policy clear. Senator Alves took aim at one of the industry’s favourite phrases. “They present it in such a romantic way: ‘Responsible gaming,’” she said. “It’s not responsible gaming; it’s gambling, it’s responsible loss.”

That language captures the mood behind the bill. Its supporters no longer seem interested in merely correcting advertising excesses. They want to reduce gambling’s visibility, commercial appeal, and product range.

The CCT intervention may not even be the decisive factor. President Lula has reportedly told his PT ranks to prepare for the suspension and repeal of the Bets regime by the end of 2026. Reports this week said Lula met with PT officials at the Planalto Palace to discuss a roadmap for dismantling the system. Concerns that the PT is hardening its stance have grown after reports that the meeting included no representatives from the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) or the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR).

The president’s office continues to blame betting for the “rising debt levels of Brazilian families,” but has not presented factual evidence to support the claim — only campaign messaging. Evidence or rationale may no longer be required in the trial of the Bets Law, which appears to have been sentenced long ago. The political sideshow leading up to October’s election is now dragging its carcass through the streets.