Operator estimate puts Brazil betting sector’s 2025 public payments at R$10.1bn

An executive at a betting operator authorised by Brazil's Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas (SPA-MF) has provided an estimate that the regulated market paid R$10.1bn to the public sector in 2025, against R$3.9bn in net profit. The executive, who asked not to be identified, sent the estimated income statement to the press, according to the report. The figures are built from the executive's own operation and use the SPA-MF's official 2025 gross gaming revenue of R$37bn, the report said.

Under the estimate, R$27.40 of every R$100 of GGR went to the public sector and R$10.60 became net profit. For each R$1 of company profit, the state received R$2.58, the report said. The largest share is the statutory allocations of 12% of GGR, totalling R$4.44bn for sport, tourism, public security, education, health and social security. These are followed by PIS/Cofins at R$3.01bn, IRPJ and CSLL at R$2.03bn, and ISS at R$0.65bn.

The report said the estimate is conservative because at least two payments to the government were not included. Each company paid R$30m for a five-year authorisation, and the executive did not deduct amortisation of that amount. The monthly supervisory fee charged by the SPA-MF by revenue band was also left out. With both items, the public sector's share would be higher and profit lower, the report said.

The report said the executive's total is close to the government's own figure: the estimate reaches R$10.1bn for the public sector, while official data put the amount at R$9.95bn, a difference of 1.8%. It also cited Finance Ministry data showing that bettors deposited R$220.6bn in 2025 and received back R$183.7bn in prizes and withdrawable bonuses. On the deposited total, company profit was 1.8 centavos per real and the government took 4.6 centavos, the report said.

The report said the government's communications secretariat, Secom, had said in an Instagram post arguing for a betting prohibition that bets always won and referred to money bets took from bettors. The report said a provisional measure prohibiting bets would end this revenue and that bettors would move to illegal sites that pay no tax and pass nothing to sport.