The Spiel By: Ricki Chavez-Munoz
Apart from the irruption of more than 440 new illegal Bets sites, with markedly free rein to operate in the Brazilian market owing to the prohibition of authorized sports betting operations, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP) reports that it has dismantled, “506 websites with evidence of irregular online betting following the issuance of the provisional measure (MP) that prohibits fixed odds betting” – or Bets as they are known in Brazil.
In other words, for the current Brazilian Government the appearance of illegal Bets sites would be put to end through tasks like those, after the publication of Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026, last week, by President Lula, in the final week of his electoral campaign for his reelection.
A report made by Bet Legal, managed by cybersecurity company Iron Security, which offers services to online bookmakers in Brazil, estimates that 440 new online illegal betting sites have emerged without authorization in Brazil, days after the signing of the MP, on September 25, 2026, by President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva and endorsed by Dario Durigan (Minister of Finance) and Wellington César Lima e Silva (Minister of Justice and Public Security).
The MJSP boast about closure of illegal Bets websites is naïve because as soon as they close one illegal site, surely, two or more illegal betting sites are uploaded for sports betting operations, multiplying the offer of illegal Bets with serious damage to the people of Brazil. Whether through arrogance or ignorance of technology and the online betting and the gambling sector, the Brazilian government has fallen into such irresponsible measures like the MP signed by Lula.
About 80 years ago, in 1947, a military president closed casinos in Brazil after badgering from his wife and her friends, who in their obscure religious fantasies saw casinos as places of sin, and other churchly offences. Faced with this, players simply looked for other providers, and travelled to casinos in Punta del Este, in neighbouring Uruguay, to Buenos Aires, Las Vegas, and other tourist and casino destinations where Brazilian money was used for gambling, well outside their own country or, inside it at clandestine establishments.
In 2026, a Brazilian president has fallen for the tale that Bets affect poor people’s economy, and closed a sector well regulated by the law, and handing the resources of poor and not so poor people to boost the growth of illegal sports betting sites in Brazil, which must already be laughing all the way to the bank, as they open in the hundreds, as I write these words with genuine concern.
We imagine Brazilian religious fanatics dancing in the streets because they will undoubtedly use Lula’s provisional measure to encourage the electoral campaign of his opponent, who has their full support. There is no doubt that trying to stop the tide is short on intelligence and acting like a XII Century King Canute failing to stop the incoming waves after ordering them to retreat, because irresponsible measures like the provisional measure banning Bets, do affect the economy of a country where the poor will primarily feel the impact in their daily lives.
Image: AI-generated illustration by Casino Compendium / OpenAI
