Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 26 Sept. (LaPresse/AP) – Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decree yesterday banning fixed-odds betting, just over a week before the first round of the presidential election. The decision puts an end to the operation, offering, brokering and advertising of such bets. The provisional executive decree comes into force immediately, but to remain in force it must be approved by Congress within 120 days. It prohibits new deposits into accounts and gives users of betting platforms until 5 October to withdraw their funds. Lula’s government has also drawn up a bill to classify activities related to fixed-odds betting – the most widespread and dominant form of online sports betting – as criminal offences, including the promotion of such betting and the use of personal data to attract punters. “I have decided to take a tough, drastic and necessary measure,” Lula told journalists in São Paulo, “it is like a cancer: either we remove the tumour, or the tumour will kill us.”
Brazil: Lula bans online gambling with immediate effect
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 26 Sept. (LaPresse/AP) – Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decree yesterday banning fixed-odds betting, just over a week before the first round of the presidential election. The decision puts an end to the operation, offering, brokering and advertising of such bets. The provisional executive decree comes into force immediately, but to remain in force it must be approved by Congress within 120 days. It prohibits new deposits into accounts and gives users of betting platforms until 5 October to withdraw their funds. Lula’s government has also drawn up a bill to classify activities related to fixed-odds betting – the most widespread and dominant form of online sports betting – as criminal offences, including the promotion of such betting and the use of personal data to attract punters. “I have decided to take a tough, drastic and necessary measure,” Lula told journalists in São Paulo, “it is like a cancer: either we remove the tumour, or the tumour will kill us.”