Brazil’s regulated online gambling sector is facing an increasingly hostile political environment, with fresh legislative moves threatening to unravel the framework entirely.
Senator Alves has joined a growing number of politicians seeking to end the Bets regime in just the second year of its existence, signalling broad appetite for dismantlement.
The bill makes no attempt to hide its intentions, explicitly aiming to dismantle the commercial framework underpinning Brazil’s newly regulated online gambling market.
Among its harshest provisions is a near-total advertising blackout that would end sportsbook sponsorship deals and potentially remove several popular online casino products from the licensed market altogether.
The relevant committee approved an urgency request alongside the bill, allowing the proposal to advance quickly to a full Senate vote without the usual delays.
A near-identical measure, Bill 2,478/2026, has been submitted separately to the Chamber of Deputies, giving the anti-gambling campaign a legislative route through both houses of Congress simultaneously.
Alessandro Vieira, the bill’s original rapporteur, presented an amended text to the committee, sharpening the proposal before it moves to the wider chamber for consideration.
Senator Alves took direct aim at the language commonly used by the gambling industry to defend its practices, challenging what she described as a deliberate softening of terminology.
“They present it in such a romantic way: ‘Responsible gaming’,” she said. “It’s not responsible gaming; it’s gambling, it’s responsible loss.”
That framing reflects a broader shift in tone among the bill’s supporters, who appear no longer interested in merely correcting advertising excesses but in reducing gambling’s overall visibility and commercial appeal.
The stakes extend well beyond the Senate chamber, with President Lula reportedly directing his PT party ranks to prepare for the suspension and repeal of the Bets regime by the end of 2026.
Reports this week indicated that Lula held meetings with PT officials at the Planalto Palace specifically to discuss a roadmap for dismantling the Bets regulatory framework.
Whether through the Senate bill, the Chamber of Deputies measure, or direct presidential action, the pressure converging on Brazil’s gambling sector represents the most serious existential threat it has faced since regulation began.
