Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva da Silva has once again criticized online digital betting platforms. Talking this Tuesday (20th), during an event in Rio Grande do Sul he said that it was Jair Bolsonaro’s administration that had brought a “casino straight into the homes” of Brazilians by allowing the expansion of online gambling platforms without effective oversight.

Lula stated that his political camp has always opposed gambling and said that practices such as  the illegal street lottery “jogo do bicho” remain illegal, even though they are widely spread throughout the country.

“I’m Catholic, and so are the Evangelicals. For a long time, we were against gambling. I remember that the ‘jogo do bicho’ is still a crime, but everyone plays it,” he said. “We’ve always been against casinos, arguing that casinos are gambling. What happened in the previous government? They brought casinos into our homes, for our children to use our phones and gamble all day long. We see nothing else on television but gambling with these betting sites,” he stated.

Since 2018, online betting has been legalized in Brazil under Law 13.756/2018, which required regulation within two years, with possible extensions. The previous government of Jair Bolsonaro failed to act on this creating a legal vacuum. However, the current administration began regulatory efforts, resulting in Law 14.790/2023 signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in December 2023.

At the same time the president also defended the regulation of betting in his speech during the ceremony to deliver 1,276 housing units in Rio Grande arguing that regulation is necessary.

“People are spending money they don’t have on their cell phones. We banned people from going to casinos, and the casino came into their homes. And we’re going to have to regulate these things. When we took cell phones out of schools, it saved the schools,” Lula stated referring to the Brazilian law prohibiting student use of cell phones in schools which was enacted in January 2025.

Lula has become increasingly critical of the gambling industry of late. Earlier this month he said that online casinos and betting are “taking over” football, advertising, and driving corruption in Brazil.

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