Brazil Betting Demand Falls 78% in a Week as Gambling Ban Hits
Licensed sites went offline on Oct. 6 under Lula's nationwide ban. Blask data shows most players stopped looking, but offshore brands now hold almost a quarter of what demand is left.
· 2 min · 2 min read
Player demand for online betting and casino games in Brazil fell 78.2% in the week to Oct. 4 from the week before, according to Blask, an analytics firm that tracks gambling demand across 142 countries.
Offshore brands took a growing share of what was left. Their slice of Blask's Brazil index rose from 3.7% in the week to Sept. 20 to 18.1% in the week to Oct. 4. Their share hit a peak of 23.4% on Oct. 4 itself.
The index is a relative measure of player interest, not a count of money wagered. Brazil ranks first among the 142 markets Blask tracks by player demand.
Brazilian households lost R$62.5 billion (about $12 billion) to betting in 2025, according to Comsefaz, the committee of state finance secretaries, as reported by the state news agency Agência Brasil. The industry disputes the method.
Ban Covers Sports Bets and Casino Games
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed Provisional Measure 1,394 on Sept. 25. It bans sports betting and online casino games, including sites based abroad that take Brazilian players.
The final text went further than the casino-only decree reported in September. New deposits were barred from Sept. 25, the day the measure was published. Players had until 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 5 to withdraw, and licensed sites had to go offline from Oct. 6.
The measure ends every license after 30 days, with no refund of license fees. It also bars banks and payment firms from processing bets, and requires app stores and internet providers to block sites from Oct. 6.
Offshore Brands Fill the Gap
Blask's index first fell 20.1% in the week of Sept. 21 to Sept. 27, according to multiple industry reports. Offshore brands had averaged 3.9% of Brazilian demand from January 2025 to Sept. 24.
Promotion dried up too. Affiliate sites promoting the 20 most-advertised brands fell from 715 to 418 between the week of Sept. 22 and Sept. 29, according to Blask figures cited in multiple industry reports. The measure bans betting advertising and sponsorship, online and offline.
Banks are due to refund money left in player accounts from Oct. 9 to Oct. 14, according to Agência Brasil. Licenses formally end on Oct. 25, and Congress has 120 days from publication to approve the measure.
Treat gambling as entertainment you pay for. 18+, and if it stops feeling like entertainment, help exists at BeGambleAware and GamCare.
