São Paulo governor Tarcísio de Freitas has called for an end to betting in Brazil, arguing that gambling has become a public-health problem rather than a form of entertainment. He made the comments at SindHosp’s Diálogos da Saúde event.
CNN Brasil reported that on Monday, 17, he said Brazil needed to “acabar com as bets” and backed a mental-health programme to deal with the effects of betting. He also compared the rise of betting with the long campaign to reduce tobacco use, saying the state had been effective in moving people away from cigarettes, but that the challenge posed by betting was now greater.
He linked betting to indebtedness as well. In the same remarks, he said 40% of Brazilian income would go to banks and another 20% to bets, without giving the source for those percentages. In other coverage, he argued that gambling dependence should be treated as a disease and that public authorities should provide specialised care through a robust, accessible, digitised national programme.
A Senate Federal document said online sports betting expansion has social, economic and public-health impacts, and traced the legal arc back to Law No. 13.756/18, which legalised sports betting in 2018.
That same Senate material described 2018 to 2023 as five years of commercial operation without criteria, oversight or limits, and said regulation only began in 2024 under Law No. 14.790/23. It called the current rules lenient, superficial and of low practical effectiveness, while saying that as of October 2024, 2,000 betting platforms had been suspended.
The Senate document also said consumer complaints reflected misleading and abusive advertising, as well as reports indicating addiction or dependence. It added that the problems identified in those complaints showed negative economic and social effects and worsened consumer vulnerability by diverting resources away from basic needs.
At the same time, the Health Ministry launched a national campaign to warn about problematic use and to publicise mental-health services in the public health system, with tele-mental-health support, referrals through basic health units and specialist follow-up at CAPS centres.
The ministry also set out a Centralised Self-Exclusion Platform, which allows citizens to block access to authorised betting sites, alongside educational material on responsible gaming, mental health and financial education. The platform requires a gov.br login.
Industry voices, meanwhile, expect the political heat to continue. iGaming Business reported that sector entities anticipated criticism during the election campaign, while Plínio Lemos Jorge, the president of ANJL, said the industry would have to remain resilient during this period.
