Brazilian lawmakers launch pact seeking ban on fixed-odds betting
Regulation3 min read
A cross-party parliamentary health group launched the “Health Is Not a Bet” pact in Brazil on 10 November, with participants backing approval of MP 1.394/2026, which would prohibit fixed-odds betting. The IEPS dossier presented at the event cites an international marketing figure from 2021; Brazilian GGR data for 2025 put television advertising and Série A sponsorships together at about 6.8% of GGR.
Brazil's cross-party parliamentary group for mental health promotion launched the Health Is Not a Bet pact, with participants backing a proposed ban on fixed-odds betting. They called for a joint committee to be established and for MP 1.394/2026 to be approved.
Deputy Pedro Campos chaired the event, which was attended by Senator Alessandro Vieira, deputy-elect and former health minister Nísia Trindade, health ministry mental health services coordinator Bruno Emerich and IEPS institutional relations director Rebeca Freitas.
IEPS presented the second edition of its dossier on betting advertising and sponsorship at the event. Event publicity said operators spent about 30% of revenue on marketing, including R$2.1bn on free-to-air television advertising and R$1.1bn on sports sponsorship. The 30% figure came from UK consultancy Regulus Partners in 2021 and referred to competitive online markets, rather than Brazil. IEPS cited the figure through a European academic review rather than consulting the original source.
The dossier cited media intelligence company Tunad's figure of R$2.12bn spent by betting operators on free-to-air and pay television from January 2025 to June 2026. Event publicity omitted the period and referred only to free-to-air television. The television spending amounted to about R$1.4bn a year when annualised.
SPA reported Brazilian gross gaming revenue of R$36.9bn for 2025. An analysis on a Brazilian betting industry site calculated that annualised television advertising and estimated 2025 sponsorship of Série A clubs together represented about 6.8% of that revenue.
The dossier said its R$38.8bn social cost estimate represented an association rather than causation, using UK costs adjusted for purchasing power and prevalence data from LENAD III. Its estimate of 12.8 million Brazilians at risk used data collected in 2022 and 2023, which the dossier said could not establish current prevalence. It said the reported increase from 1% to 67% of patients at a Hospital das Clínicas outpatient service was not nationally representative. The dossier described reported increases in supermarket consumption after the ban as perceptions without a measured effect. It said there were no estimates of migration between legal and illegal markets.
The dossier cited a 30% margin from one operator's accounts and noted that an LCA study put the margin at 15%. The analysis calculated that those margins would equate to R$5.5bn to R$11.1bn in profit against the official 2025 GGR of R$36.9bn.
The dossier drew on advertising restrictions in Belgium, Spain, Australia and the Netherlands, where online betting remains legal. Among its recommendations were banning high-risk online games, creating an independent regulator, enforcing against the illegal market and directing funds to Brazil's public health system, SUS. It proposed funding SUS care with fines and seized funds.
The dossier said the health ministry received R$45.8m from betting in 2025. Law 14.790/2023 directs 1% to health and reserves 10% of allocations for social security, covering health, pensions and social assistance, amounting to about R$458m in 2025.
The dossier cited a Swedish population study for a figure of suicide risk 15 times higher among people diagnosed with gambling disorder than in the general population. IEPS identified 42 amendments to the measure as favourable to the sector and 30 as focused on health and protection, out of 99 amendments.
IEPS produced the dossier with the parliamentary group and Umane, with support from Instituto Betty e Jacob Lafer and Infinis.