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Brazil's President Lula bans online betting ahead of presidential election · Best of: Features

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  Brazil’s President Lula bans online betting ahead of presidential election, Written by
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  Mauricio Savarres and Eleonor Hugh, This article is being read by an
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  automated voice generated by Everlett. Rio de Janeiro, the AP. Brazil's
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  President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday, signed an order banning
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  fixed odds betting just over a week ahead of the first round
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  of the presidential election, in a move he said was designed to
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  tackle the pervasive problem of families falling into debt. The decision ends
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  the operation, offering, intermediation, and advertising of betting the Provisional Executive Order
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  comes into force immediately but will need congressional approval within one hundred
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  and twenty days to remain in effect. It prohibits new deposits into
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  accounts and gives users of betting platforms until october fifth to withdraw
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  their funds. Lula's government has also drafted a will to establish criminal
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  offenses related to fixed odds betting, the most common and dominant type
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  of online sports betting, such as promoting them and using personal data
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  to solicit betters. I made the decision to take a hard, drastic,
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  and necessary measure, he told journalists in Sao Paulo. It's like cancer
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  you take out the tumor, or the tumor will kill us. Lula
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  had also criticized the betting industry earlier this week at the United
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  Nations General Assembly, accusing it of transforming addiction into profit and of
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  destroying homes. Polls suggest a ban enjoys widespread endorsement among Brazilians. Senator
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  Flavio Bolsonaro, Lula's main rival in the upcoming election, accused the current
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  leader of an electoral measure. Brazil's president has sharply criticized online betting
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  at least since April when he called for a ban. Backlash grew
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  during the FIFA World Cup when advertisements were ubiquitous, and the number
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  of people betting surged. Betting and gambling are estimated to cost Brazilian
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  society thirty eight point eight billion ries annually and increases suicide
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  and depression, according to a twenty twenty five study by the nonprofit
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  Institute of Studies for Health Policies. The
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  country central bank estimated last year that Brazilians spend about thirty billion
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  riais five point seven billion dollars on bets each month. That figure
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  included spending by beneficiaries of the cash transfer federal welfare program Bolsa
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  Familia Family Grant, which was blocked from those platforms last year. Lawmakers,
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  including many from Flavio Bolsonaro's Liberal Party, struck down a Lula order
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  for tax hikes on online betting and virtual casinos in October last
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  year. Gambling is illegal in Brazil, but the country opened the gates
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  to online betting in twenty eighteen during the presidency of Michelle Tamer.
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  The phenomenon snowballed under the watch of former President Jair Bolsonaro, Flavio
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  Bolsonaro's father. In December twenty twenty three, Lula signed a law to
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  regulate and tax betting companies for the first time. Months later, his
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  administration blocked over two thousand online betting websites that were designated as
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  irregular, including some linked to criminal organizations like the First Command of
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  the Capital from Sao Paulo and the Red Command of Rio de
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  Janeiro. It was part of a national push to regulate the sector.
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  Lula and members of his administration have spoken about banning online betting
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  as necessary to both close a drain to the country's economy and
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  to tackle a public health issue, as many Brazilian are addicted and
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  in financial difficulties due to spending their money on these platforms. Business
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  analysts say that revenues for sports betting, one of the betting models
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  banned on Friday, are estimated at more than four billion dollars per
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  year in Brazil, one of the biggest markets in the world. Ahead
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  of Friday's move, Brazil's main soccer clubs sounded the alarm after betting
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  companies reportedly warned clubs that sponsorships will end immediately if the government
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  bans betting. They said the move could mean the end of Brazilian
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  soccer, a claim mocked by some social media users in the soccer
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  mad country. Follow the AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbeanet.