Brazilian lottery stakeholders remain very supportive of the growth of the country’s betting industry in the face of mounting political criticism of the still nascent sector.
Lotteries eagerly followed the development of Brazil’s betting legislation in 2024 and the subsequent market launch in January 2025, and associations like the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) have been very critical of government clampdowns since.
This week, the President of another trade body, the Brazilian Federation of Lottery Companies (Febralot), reiterated his support for the integration of the BetCaixa sportsbook into the lottery network, as reported by SBC Noticias Brasil.
BetCaixa is a fixed odds betting platform linked to the Caixa Econômica Federal, one of Brazil’s most important financial institutions. Caixa also operates a pool lottery product, though this has been a source of controversy at times.
Ricardo Amado Costa, Febralot President, remarked at a trade event in Sao Paolo this week that “the lottery network cannot fail to participate” in the betting market, as long as this market exists in Brazil.
“Febralot’s position remains the same regarding the expansion of the regulated betting market in Brazil,” he said. “For the leader, it would not make sense for lottery outlets, historically linked to the sale of games and lottery products, to be left out of this segment.”
Brazil’s betting industry has exploded in value since its creation on 1 January 2025. The first seven months of this year alone saw R8.7bn (£1.2bn) collected in taxes from fixed-odds sports betting and online games between January-July 2026 alone.
Lottery companies wanting to get in on this is no surprise. The trouble they have is politics.
The Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) of the Ministry of Finance, Brazil’s betting regulator, had authorised Caixa to operate the BetCaixa sportsbook proposition. Caixa has even paid its licence fee.
However, the betting platform has still not been launched amid political opposition from President Lula da Silva. The Secretariat of Social Communication (Secom) instructed the bank to prioritise other initiatives with greater electoral appeal, with an election coming up in October 2026.
Although he signed the betting law into existence, President Lula has self-described himself as “no friend” of the industry and is targeting ways to limit gambling advertising and even ban online casino activity.
Political opposition is now coming from the other side of the spectrum, with Liberal Party leader Flavia Bolansaro – son of former President Jair Bolasnaro – apparently considering anti-betting policies in his October manifesto, while a member of his party has just proposed a bill to congress that would ban online betting within 180 days if approved.