Brazil is getting ready for another set of rules and tax increases for betting operators, increasing the regulated market that was established in January 2025.
The central government has completed a new decree that brings more strict control over betting activities. The proposed regulations include mandatory five-second intervals between two bets; ban on playing automated games; and restrictions on sound effects that attract gamblers.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has continued supporting recurring taxation of the industry. Once the official market opened, the government has forbidden sign-up bonuses as well as other promotions related to betting, while the Senate already approved the increase of gross gaming revenue tax from 12% to 18% by the year 2028.
What is more, the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil is now in the process of deciding whether Decree-Law No. 9,215/1946, which bans gambling in the territory of Brazil, is constitutional.
Flávia Raphael Mallmann, a lawyer with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rio Grande do Sul, said:
Criminalization of gambling is a moral judgement about protecting citizens, and not a criminal one.
At the hearing dated 5 August, the participants were discussing whether the mentioned law is in conflict with the principles of free competition, economic order, and the freedoms stated in the Constitution. Since the law was passed before the Internet appeared, it does not include specific provisions about on-line gambling, thus leading to many years of legal uncertainty in terms of Internet gambling legislation.
With the presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court taking different positions, Brazil’s betting sector is likely to remain under significant regulatory and political pressure.
