Wellington Dias backs Brazil's proposed suspension of betting despite enforcement concerns

Brazilian social development minister Wellington Dias said he supported a proposal to suspend betting, while acknowledging that gambling would continue illegally and people could access foreign platforms. In an interview with the minister, Dias did not say whether Provisional Measure No. 1.394/2026 was the right decision.

The measure prohibits fixed-odds betting, and the government is preparing a bill to criminalise the activity. The interviewer asked whether prohibition was appropriate or whether there was room for dialogue and adjustments. She referred to congressional discussions and challenges to the prohibition before the Supreme Federal Court. She said football club representatives at a public hearing led by justice Luiz Fux had compared betting to cigarettes, which are regulated rather than prohibited.

In 2024, Dias advocated treating betting like tobacco and alcohol, with advertising time restrictions and addiction warnings. He proposed that betting operators pay directly for treatment for people addicted to gambling. That year, Dias announced a block on the use of Bolsa Família cards at betting operators. The block accompanied a wider prohibition on credit card use in electronic betting.

On 25 September, Dias said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's decision was based on data about betting's effects on health and families' social circumstances. Brazil's SPA and the federal revenue service's tax and customs studies centre said in responses to freedom of information requests that there were no studies of the prohibition's impact. The government classified documents said to have underpinned the measure.