Brazilian health minister promotes betting-dependency telehealth ahead of court hearing

Brazil's health minister, Alexandre Padilha, published a video on Instagram promoting telehealth support through Meu SUS Digital for people experiencing betting dependency, ahead of a Supreme Federal Court public hearing on 3 November concerning ADI 8027 and challenges to Provisional Measure 1.394/2026, according to a report. The report said the video presented "more food on the table" as a result of the prohibition of betting, a claim it said was made without methodological support.

The report said Padilha repeated a claim by ABRAS, the supermarket association, about an atypical rise in supermarket sales attributed to the betting prohibition, and that the association had not presented controls for the end of the balance-withdrawal period on 5 October or for the extended holiday of 12 October. It said Padilha also mentioned other surveys on falling household debt without identifying them, their period or their methodology. The report said ABRAS is presided over by João Galassi, who ran for federal deputy for São Paulo on 4 October and was not elected.

The report said the regulated market had included age and identity verification, a ban on credit-card payment, self-exclusion tools, deposit limits, monitoring of risk behaviour and health alerts, and that illegal platforms, which it said remain online and have grown after the provisional measure, have none of these. It said the government's measure pushed bettors towards illegal sites.

According to the report, authorised betting operators generated R$67bn in GGR between January 2025 and August 2026, citing data from the SPA-MF obtained through access-to-information requests. Under the percentages set by Law 14.790/2023, the report said, that represented about R$67m for the Ministry of Health and R$804.5m for Social Security, and it said the amount could be higher because Complementary Law 224/2025 raised the rate from 12% to 13% in 2026, with part of the increase allocated to health. The report said the prohibition ended these funding sources.

The report said telehealth had recorded 291 appointments against a contracted capacity of 100,000 per month, citing data obtained through access-to-information requests. It said the Supreme Federal Court hearing on ADI 8027 is scheduled for 3 November, with Justice Luiz Fux due to decide on the actions challenging MP 1.394/2026.