Brazil presidential debate omits betting ban as candidates stay silent

Neither Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva nor Flávio Bolsonaro raised the ban on online betting during their first second-round presidential debate, held on 18 October and broadcast by Band. The debate took place a week before the vote on 25 October. The candidates focused on public security, the economy, the INSS scandal and the Master case.

The government signed Medida Provisória 1.394/2026 on 25 September, nine days before the first round, prohibiting fixed-odds betting and online casinos. Lula presented the measure as a response to household indebtedness. Finance Minister Dario Durigan described the election as a "plebiscite of the bets". Indebtedness was discussed in the economy block of the debate, but betting was not mentioned.

Flávio Bolsonaro finished the first round with 47% of the vote against 45% for Lula. In the following days, the PT campaign assessed, according to O Globo, that the ban had harmed its result. Lula did not mention betting during a TV Globo interview on Thursday 15 October, although he discussed indebtedness. The theme returned on Friday 16 October in Ipatinga, Minas Gerais, when Lula attacked Globo after Flávio Bolsonaro's lunch with the broadcaster's leadership, saying it was "angry" because he "ended the bets".

Hours before the debate, it became public that the Federal Police had sent the Supreme Federal Court an inquiry into suspected money laundering involving Flávio Bolsonaro and lawyer Willer Tomaz. The Federal Police points to indications that Tomaz effectively controls Rede Loto, the first company authorised to operate sports betting in the country, licensed by Loterj in May 2023. In a statement, Tomaz's defence said Rede Loto "never operated as a betting platform" and criticised the leak "hours before the debate". Flávio Bolsonaro, who advocated keeping sports betting and ending only online casinos, did not raise the subject.

Reportedly, the debate did not address the 30,000 reports of suspicious sites registered after legal companies left, clubs without a main sponsor, or the future of the provisional measure in Congress and the Supreme Federal Court. The report says the question of what each candidate will do with the betting measure from 1 January remains unanswered.