Five million people have stopped accessing betting platforms in Brazil

More than five million Brazilians are currently prevented from accessing authorised betting platforms through a combination of self-exclusion and government imposed restrictions, according to figures from the Ministry of Finance.

The figure represents around 12.5% of the 40 million people registered as active users in the government’s Sistema de Gestão de Apostas (Sigap), with the data covering the situation up to August.

Finance Minister Dario Durigan said the restrictions form part of a broader government strategy to discourage betting and protect household income.

“More than five million people have now been prevented from, restricted from or excluded from betting in Brazil, as part of our commitment to treat betting like cigarettes and discourage gambling in the country.”

Durigan made the comments as he outlined the government’s measures to restrict access to betting.

Of the five million people affected, around 800,000 were prevented from betting after entering government debt-renegotiation programmes.

A further three million beneficiaries of Bolsa Família, Brazil’s main welfare programme, and the Benefício de Prestação Continuada (BPC), a social assistance benefit, have had their access to authorised betting platforms blocked.

The Ministry of Finance said the restrictions on social programme beneficiaries were implemented following a decision by Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court.

The remaining 1.2 million people voluntarily chose to exclude themselves from betting through the government’s Centralised Self-Exclusion Platform, which was launched by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) in December 2025.

The Ministry said the most common reason given was loss of control over gambling and concerns about mental health, accounting for 35.93% of requests.

The second most common reason, cited in 20.63% of cases, was a desire to prevent personal data from being used by betting platforms.

Most requests — 66.95% — were for an indefinite exclusion period, while 21.6% were for one year.

Among those prevented from betting because of debt renegotiation, 794,181 people were associated with the government’s programme for people in arrears, while a further 33,123 were linked to the Fundo de Financiamento Estudantil (Fies), the federal student-financing programme.

The government has also made free educational courses available through the self-exclusion platform, covering behavioural and financial risks associated with betting, including the risk of over-indebtedness.

A mental-health self-assessment tool is also available, providing information about gambling-related risks and directing users towards services within Brazil’s public healthcare system.

The five-million figure comes as the Brazilian government continues to tighten its approach to online betting. The government has increasingly emphasised measures intended to reduce participation among people considered vulnerable to gambling-related harm, while simultaneously stepping up enforcement against operators that fail to comply with regulatory requirements.