Brazil’s Ruling Party Files Bill to Ban Online Gambling Entirely as President Lula Stays Silent – iGaming Bitcoin News

Key Takeaways:

• 68 PT lawmakers filed PL-1808/2026 proposing complete repeal of Brazil’s Bets Law framework
• The bill covers all gambling operations, advertising, sponsorships, payment processing, and intermediary services
• President Lula has not endorsed the bill despite calling for a ban on online betting last week

68 Lawmakers Move to Kill a Framework Their Own Party Built

Deputy Pedro Uczai (PT-SC) submitted PL-1808/2026 to the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday, backed by 68 PT lawmakers. The bill calls for the full repeal of all laws governing online betting introduced under Brazil’s Bets Law, the regulatory regime that took effect on January 1, 2025.

The proposed prohibition extends across the entire gambling framework. According to the bill text, it would ban “the exploitation, operation, offering, availability, promotion, advertising, intermediation and processing of transactions related to fixed-odds betting” throughout national territory. Penalties would include fines of up to two billion Brazilian reais (approximately $385 million) and prison sentences of two to eight years, with aggravated penalties for cases involving minors or criminal organizations. Platforms with more than one million users would be required to remove gambling promotional content.

The bill carries no signature from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva or senior members of the federal government. Lula said last week that he would shut down online betting if it were solely his decision, telling ICL Notícias on April 8 that he could not accept “this uncontrolled gambling” continuing. But he acknowledged the decision required congressional action and that the betting industry’s financial ties to lawmakers made the political math uncertain.

A full repeal would place the PT on a collision course with its own fiscal strategy. The Receita Federal collected 2.5 billion reais in gambling-related tax revenue in January and February 2026 alone – a 236 percent increase over the same period last year. That revenue underpins the social and welfare programs at the center of Lula’s reelection platform.

The crypto implications are direct. Brazil already bans cryptocurrency deposits on licensed gambling platforms under the existing regulatory framework. A full repeal would eliminate even that regulated structure, leaving no legal framework and historically pushing activity to unregulated offshore operators where crypto is the default payment method. The bill’s own text defines its scope as covering all “processing of transactions” linked to gambling – language broad enough to encompass any payment rail, including digital assets.

The national industry trade body ANJL called the proposal “a great risk,” arguing that the regulated framework was specifically designed to bring unregulated activity into a controlled environment. Uczai framed the bill as an emergency public health measure, stating that betting had moved beyond entertainment and become “a mechanism for capturing popular income.”

Brazil’s October 2026 general election looms over the debate. The bill aligns with the PT’s “3B” campaign slogan targeting bankers, billionaires, and betting, but political expectations had pointed to tighter regulation rather than full dismantlement. Whether Lula and the party leadership endorse the bill proposal directly or let it serve as campaign positioning remains the central question.