The Brazilian state reaped big financial rewards from the gambling sector in the first year of the new regulated market, according to the Federal Revenue Service (FRB).
In a breakdown of 2025 taxes, the FRB specifically highlighted that revenue from ‘activities related to gambling’ stood out among various other business sectors last year.
Gambling tax revenue jumped hugely from R$91m in 2024 to R$9.9bn (€1.9bn/£1.4bn) in 2025, which the FRB states ‘is a direct reflection of the sector’s regulation, with rules that came into effect in 2025’.
The regulated betting market, known as ‘Bets’, went live on 1 January 2025 after years of deliberation under the presidential administrations of both Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023) and Lula Da Silva (2023-present).
The market went live with 63 initial licence holders, both domestic companies and multinationals. The Secretariat of Bets and Prizes (SPA), part of the Ministry of Finance, revealed in early 2025 that it was still processing hundreds of applications.
From the global sector, major international companies like Kaizen Gaming via its Betano brand, Romania-founded Superbet (now Super), UK-based Entain via its Sportingbet and betboo brands, and Irish-American giant Flutter Entertainment have all set up shop in Brazil.
It was widely expected in the build up to the Brazil market launch that the new sector would quickly become one of the biggest in the world, and early statistics proved this. Figures from January-September 2025, for example, revealed R$3.3bn in taxes and levies from R$28bn in gross gaming revenue (GGR).
Quick growth, quick taxation
The revelation of how big Brazil’s betting taxes stood at the end of the year comes ahead of a crucial inflection point for the sector, however – this inflation point being the forthcoming implementation of new taxes.
President Lula signed off the tax raises in late December 2025, having been eyeing up the young betting industry as a revenue stream to support his social spending and investment ambitions.
The new framework will see taxes increase from the current rate of 12% to 15% by 2027 and 18% by 2028. Separate from this, there is also a political push for a 15% tax to be placed on customer deposits, paid by customers when putting money into their betting accounts.
“We know from experience that tax and regulatory frameworks in iGaming evolve over time,” Rivalo Brasil’s Managing Director, Daniel Eskinazi, told SBC News last week, ahead of his appearance at the SBC Summit Rio in March.
“That said, we were genuinely surprised by the speed at which tax increases began to be debated—barely five months into a five-year licence that already required an upfront payment of approximately US$6m (£4.5m).
“Our response has been to engage constructively with peers and stakeholders to reinforce a simple but critical message: excessive taxation ultimately harms consumers by pushing them toward the black market, where there is no player protection, no responsible gaming controls, and no tax collection at all.”