Brazil president threatens to ban online betting

Abstract

Unless regulation doesn't curb the country's addiction to online sports betting, Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will ban it. Brazilians, who love both soccer and betting, have been spending their household money on it since it was legalized in 2018, Reuters reported on Oct. 6. The president, known as Lula, noted that it was not right for low-income families who get public funding to spend the money on bets. Last week, Brazil's Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) published a list of sports betting companies licensed to operate in Brazil, which is now one of the fifth-largest betting markets in the world. Under new regulations, credit cards will not be allowed for use in betting. “Everyone knows that the person going to buy bread in the morning will make a small bet using the bread money,” Lula said. “But what I cannot allow is betting to turn into a disease, an addiction, and for people to become dependent on it, because I know people who lost their house and car.”