Brazil presidential debate passes without online betting ban discussion

Neither Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva nor Flávio Bolsonaro mentioned the ban on online betting during their presidential runoff debate. The debate covered public security, the economy, insecurity and corruption allegations. Family indebtedness, the government's main stated reason for the ban, was discussed within the economic segment but without reference to the prohibition, the outlet reported.

Lula signed Medida Provisória 1.394/2026 on 25 September, nine days before the first electoral round. The measure banned fixed-odds betting and online casinos. Lula presented it as a response to family indebtedness, and Finance Minister Dario Durigan described the election as a "plebiscito a las apuestas". In the first round, Bolsonaro took 47% of the vote against 45% for Lula. In the following days, Lula's own campaign assessed that the ban had harmed his first-round result, the outlet reported.

The topic returned on Friday 16 through another route, according to the outlet: Lula attacked Globo and said the broadcaster was angry because he "acabó con las apuestas". In a letter to evangelical voters, one of the sectors most opposed to gambling, Lula based his content on Medida Provisória 1.394.

On Bolsonaro's side, the outlet reported that hours before the debate it emerged that the Federal Police had sent the Supreme Federal Court (STF) an accusation over suspected money laundering involving the senator and lawyer Willer Tomaz, described as the de facto controller of Rede Loto, the first company authorised to operate sports betting in the country.

According to an O Povo column, Bolsonaro told the leadership of Grupo Globo that an agreement already exists in the National Congress for the return of online betting. The only remaining question would be whether the return includes virtual casinos such as "jogo do tigrinho" and "aviãozinho", which account for most of the sector's revenue, the outlet reported. The conversation took place on Friday 16 at a lunch with Grupo Globo president João Roberto Marinho and institutional relations vice-president Paulo Tonet, and the release of betting was the main topic, according to the account.

It was reported that Grupo Globo was affected by the ban both in its own betting operation, as a partner of MGM Resorts in BetMGM through Boa Lion, and through the loss of advertising revenue on sports events and channels.