Brazil's Licensed Betting Firms Protest Lula Ban Via Football Ad Boards
Licensed Brazilian betting operators used advertising hoardings at Brasileirão football matches to protest President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's ban on licensed betting, displaying the messages "Proibir não é proteger" ("To prohibit is not to protect") and "A proibição não acaba com as apostas" ("The ban doesn't end betting") during fixtures on October 2 and 3, 2026, according to Brazilian outlets Estadão and Metrópoles.
What The Measure Does
The protest responds to Provisional Measure 1,394/2026, signed by Lula on September 25, 2026, which prohibits the operation, offer, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting lotteries across Brazil, including bets offered by foreign-based operators to people in the country.
The measure gave operators a 10-day window to shut down platform access and required that sponsorship signage be removed from stadiums by September 29, which in practice was extended until October 5 for some deals.
São Paulo retained Superbet sponsorship through the window while Santos suspended its Novibet deal ahead of the cut-off, per Estadão's report from the São Paulo vs Santos fixture at the Morumbi stadium.
Who Organised The Protest
The demonstration was organised jointly by the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR), alongside licensed operators who gave up sponsorship board space to display the messages during the São Paulo-Santos and Atlético-MG-Bragantino matches.
"For ANJL and IBJR, maintaining a regulated environment with clear rules and legal certainty is fundamental so that clubs, companies and other agents in the sports chain can plan their long-term investments," said ANJL president Plínio Lemos Jorge.
IBJR president Carlos Lima added that the debate also concerns the predictability of a market built on licences the state itself granted. In a joint manifesto, the two bodies argued the ban "does not end betting in the country, but ends the protection of those who bet", warning it pushes bettors toward unlicensed platforms with no age or identity verification.
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Legal Challenges And Market Fallout
São Paulo FC, Ponte Preta, Vitória, Guarani and Portuguesa have separately petitioned Brazil's Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) to suspend the Provisional Measure, arguing it disrupts club sponsorship and financial planning agreed years in advance.
Flamengo president Luiz Eduardo Baptista told CNN Brasil the ban could cost Brazilian football roughly R$2.5 billion in lost sponsorship revenue, while Fluminense said it faces more than R$100 million in exposure.
ANJL's own Legitbet monitoring platform recorded 6,401 new illegal betting websites between September 22 and 28, including a single-day spike of 3,094 new sites on the Sunday after the measure was signed, which the association says is around 67 times the typical volume.
More gambling regulation coverage will follow as Brazil's betting ban takes effect.
