Brazil’s Lula Bans All Online Gambling Days Before Presidential Election

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed a provisional order banning all online gambling — including sports betting and online casinos — just days before a presidential election in which he seeks a fourth term.

Lula, who has described the online gambling industry as a “cancer,” declared: “Either we remove the tumour, or it kills us.” He said the industry grew “without regulation under Bolsonaro’s management” and offered no restrictions to prevent children from accessing online betting.

Online gambling was legalised in Brazil in 2018 and has been blamed for widespread household income losses due to addiction. About 59.9% of Brazilian adults reportedly support the ban. Lula described hearing from families who had “sold everything in their houses because of their gambling addictions.”

The provisional order must receive congressional approval within 120 days to remain in force. Lula is running almost neck-and-neck with Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the incarcerated former president Jair Bolsonaro, with the first round of voting in just over a week.

Flávio Bolsonaro called the crackdown “populist, hypocritical and politically motivated.” Earlier at the United Nations General Assembly, Lula accused the industry of “transforming addiction into profit.”