Brazilian finance minister removes betting revenue estimate from 2027 budget proposal
Regulation2 min read
In brief
- Finance Minister Dario Durigan said betting revenue will be removed from the 2027 budget bill.
- He estimated about R$60bn a year would shift from betting to other sectors.
- The report cites official data of R$36.9bn operator gross gaming revenue in 2025.
Brazilian Finance Minister Dario Durigan said in an interview on Thursday that the estimate of federal revenue from betting houses would be removed from the 2027 annual budget bill, known as the Ploa. According to the minister, the loss will be offset in other areas of the economy.
Durigan estimated that about R$60bn a year would no longer go to betting, and he named retail and wholesale as the likely destination.
The report disputes that figure, citing official information it obtained under Brazil's access-to-information law. That information put operator gross gaming revenue at R$36.9bn in 2025 and R$20.07bn in the first half of 2026. The report said that even on an annualised basis the figure is close to R$40bn, well short of R$60bn.
The report said Robinson Barreirinhas, secretary of the Federal Revenue Service, argued in October that betting money would be spent in other sectors and offset the lost revenue. It said the supermarket association ABRAS attributed an atypical rise in supermarket sales to the ban. The report argued that a 6.5% weekly rise in supermarket turnover exceeds R$1.3bn, while weekly betting gross gaming revenue was around R$770m.
According to the report, the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) and the Federal Revenue Service's tax and customs studies centre (CETAD) said they have no studies on the impact of the ban.
The report said betting operators paid federal taxes including IRPJ, CSLL, PIS and Cofins, and allocated part of their gross gaming revenue to legal beneficiaries. By the report's own calculations, those beneficiaries alone lose R$18bn until the licences end. The report added that the minister himself acknowledges revenue of close to R$10bn this year, which will no longer exist.
The report argues that a ban does not eliminate gambling and instead pushes it underground. It said the illegal online betting market already accounted for more than 40% of activity after 22 months of regulation.