Flávio Bolsonaro allies file 30 pro-betting amendments to Brazil ban

Lawmakers filed 97 amendments to Brazil's MP 1.394/2026, the provisional measure banning fixed-odds betting, by the 13 October deadline, according to the source. Of these, 35 would soften or reverse the ban, 25 would tighten it and 37 are neutral. Allies of Flávio Bolsonaro in Congress are behind 30 of the 35 pro-betting amendments, with 30 coming from lawmakers in PL and PP.

The bulk of the pro-betting amendments take a common approach: online casino games like the "Tigrinho" would be outlawed, while sports betting would survive. This is in line with what Bolsonaro himself wants. Although he describes himself as personally against gambling, he has committed to shutting down online casinos and preserving sports betting, and his stated reason is that "the problem is the online casino".

Lula put his signature to the MP and it was published on 25 September; its effect is to prohibit every form of fixed-odds betting. Operators were given a 10-day window to shut down, and every licence ends on 25 October. Licence fees are not returned.

Capitão Alden (PL-BA) submitted 11 pro-betting amendments, the highest number from a single lawmaker, and each of the seven PP authors submitted at least one. Four came from Mauricio Neves (PP-SP), one of which is a complete replacement of the MP that would bring back the licensed regime. Marcos Braz (PSDB), Jorge Kajuru (PSB) and Romário (no party) account for the other five pro-betting amendments. Among the authors, Kajuru alone sits on the centre-left, and no left-wing party submitted a pro-betting amendment.

MDB lawmakers, by contrast, put forward amendments designed to make the ban stricter, among them prison terms for operators acting illegally. Senator Sargento Reginauro (PSDB-CE) submitted 14 restrictive amendments. The wording of most of them begins with the premise that betting might be authorised again, yet they lay down firm conditions should Congress decide to reopen the market.

Football connections run through the list of pro-betting authors. Their case is that sponsorship money from betting flows into clubs, youth academies, women's football and Olympic sports. Romário, a senator and a 1994 World Cup winner, is sponsored by Superbet; his amendment would permit wagers only on a match's final result and final score. Marcos Braz (PSDB-RJ) and Julio Lopes (PP-RJ), both linked to Flamengo, want sports betting retained. Lopes would confine the ban to slots and warns that the MP would tear up contracts that keep clubs afloat. Braz would permit only final-result bets and give clubs as long as 24 months to retain betting sponsors.

Bolsonaro has made the same case, saying the MP "attacked the clubs" and pointing to shops that had to throw away stocks of team jerseys carrying betting sponsors.

Two PL amendments reach past betting into prediction markets. Rodrigo Valadares (PL-SE) seeks a limited carve-out for derivatives linked to economic or financial variables, interest rates or inflation among them, even where the payout is yes-or-no. Capitão Alden's text states that derivative contracts are not bets "whatever the underlying event" and hands them exclusively to the CVM, Brazil's securities regulator; the CVM would retain the power to prohibit contracts connected to illegal activity, terrorism, assassination, war or gaming.

Now that the filing window has shut, the MP faces three steps. First, a joint committee of 12 senators and 12 deputies examines the amendments, and the rapporteur incorporates the accepted ones into a conversion bill. Second, the Chamber of Deputies votes on the MP or on that bill, and parties may demand separate votes on individual amendments. Third, the Senate votes on the identical text, and any alteration returns to the Chamber. An approved amended text then goes to Lula, who may sign it or veto it wholly or partly, and Congress is able to overturn a veto. Should the MP be rejected or expire after 120 days, it ceases to have effect, yet the licence extinctions would remain in place unless Congress issues a decree on them within 60 days.

No ruling is anticipated ahead of the 25 October runoff, where Bolsonaro, who took 47% of valid votes in the first round, contests incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has described the MP as "populist, hypocritical, electioneering" but has kept silent on how he would vote, and he has cautioned that since the measure runs for only four months, "nothing stops the Tigrinho from coming back in full force." The Supreme Court is hearing three cases that could put the MP on hold at any moment, and the professional clubs São Paulo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo have each signed on to the legal challenges.