The rapid growth of online betting returned to the center of political debate this Friday (16), following statements by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) regarding the sector’s effects in Brazil. Speaking at an event attended by Central Bank President Gabriel Galípolo, Lula said that betting platforms have come to exert direct influence over strategic areas of the country, including football and advertising, while also fostering corrupt practices.

“Casinos have entered our homes, so that a ten-year-old child can take their father’s phone and gamble, with this number of betting platforms that have been created, which are taking over football, advertising, and corruption, because you can see the work the Central Bank is doing to try to make these people at least pay taxes in our country,” said the president.

Regulation, taxation, and the history of casinos

According to Lula, the popularization of digital platforms has profoundly changed access to gambling, bringing the activity into Brazilian households. The president also highlighted the efforts of monetary authorities to bring the sector into line from a fiscal standpoint, amid the advance of betting operators in the national market.

In his speech, Lula also recalled that since childhood he had heard from religious leaders that Brazil could not coexist with casinos. He cited the 1946 decree signed by then-President Eurico Gaspar Dutra, which banned physical casino establishments in the country—a decision that shaped Brazilian policy toward gambling for decades.

Remarks made during an institutional agenda

The statements were made during a ceremony marking the launch of a commemorative medal celebrating the 90th anniversary of the minimum wage, created in 1936. The event took place at the Brazilian Mint and was attended by ministers such as Esther Dweck (Management and Innovation), Gleisi Hoffmann (Institutional Relations), and Luiz Marinho (Labor and Employment).

The president’s remarks reinforce the growing political pressure for greater oversight and taxation of the online betting market—a sector experiencing rapid expansion in Brazil and already playing a central role in financing sports, especially professional football.