Senator Damares Alves’ call for a full prohibition on betting advertising and sponsorship has heightened early nerves across Brazil’s online gambling ranks as stakeholders prepare for another year of politicking, reports Leonardo Biazzi, Editor of SBC Noticias Brasil.
Returning from summer recess in February, Brazilian politics has resumed discussions to settle the outstanding laws and protections of the Bets online gambling regime.
In the Senate, the Science and Technology Committee (CCT) has zoned in on proceedings to develop a specific advertising bill for online gambling, in which it has proposed a sweeping ban on betting advertising, sponsorships and promotions.
As reported by SBC Noticias Brasil, the prohibitive text has been sanctioned by rapporteur Damares Alves, (Republicanos-DF), amending Bill No. 3,563/2024 originally authored by Senator Randolfe Rodrigues.
Under Rodrigues mandate, the original Bill held no grounds for advertising blackout, but called on Senators to support “controlled tightening of rules on youth exposure, a ban on influencer marketing, aggressive bonus incentives and that gambling advertising could be presented as a financial alternative.
Aware of regulatory sensitivities, Rodrigues’ bill sought to limit harmful advertising practices while preserving the legal visibility of licensed operators as a channelisation tool to counter the black market.
However, without formal Senate debate, Bill No. 3,563/2024 has effectively been redirected under Alves’ rewrite toward full prohibition of gambling advertising.
Alves has stated that her amendments reflect the recommendations of last year’s Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) that accompanied the launch of the Bets regime.
A series of high-profile inquiries led by Senator Soraya Thronicke — examined the economic and societal impacts of Brazil’s transition from a grey market to a regulated online gambling regime.
According to Alves, the CPI linked gambling advertising to rising addiction risks and harmful behavioural patterns, warning that unrestricted marketing could aggravate mental-health outcomes — forming the basis for the Senate’s consideration of an outright ban.
Instant blowback
The pivot towards full prohibition triggered an immediate response from Instituto Brasileiro de Jogo Responsável (IBJR), warning lawmakers that a blanket advertising ban risks undermining the entire regulatory framework of the Bets regime.
Speaking to SBC Noticias Brazil, IBJR said advertising remains a “legitimate and essential tool for a regulated market”, enabling consumers to distinguish licensed operators from illegal platforms operating beyond state oversight.
“Advertising plays a fundamental role in helping bettors identify regulated companies that are supervised by the state and committed to responsible gaming, while separating them from clandestine operators that offer no consumer protections,” the institute stated.
The trade body cautioned that sweeping prohibitions on advertising and sponsorship would skew visibility of legal operators and redirect consumers toward offshore and unlicensed platforms.
Alves’ measures have been criticised for weakening the compliance, tax collection and player safeguards that were hard fought over by the Congress and Senate in the deliberations of 2024 and 2025.
“Excessive restrictions on lawful communication only weaken the regulated market and strengthen the space occupied by illegal operators, who are not subject to any rules or public oversight,” it added.
The body urged senators to work with industry stakeholders on targeted and proportionate advertising laws focused on youth protection, responsible gaming messaging and tougher enforcement against illegal operators. It confirmed it is seeking direct dialogue with the Senate to help shape a dedicated regulatory framework rather than an outright ban.
IBJR further stressed that Brazil’s R$14bn illegal betting market must be actively countered, arguing that advertising remains one of the few effective tools for onboarding consumers into licensed platforms and accelerating the transition into the regulated market.
2026… one battle after another!
Betting advertising has now become a divisive front in Congress and the Senate, who are to review multiple bills designing regulation in sharply different directions.
Alongside the rewritten Rodrigues proposal now carrying full prohibition, Senator Jorge Kajuru’s bill focuses on banning election-related betting promotions, while Senator Styvenson Valentim’s legislation, already approved by the Senate, calls for campaign advertising limits over a blanket ban.
The competing initiatives underline a legislature split between harm-reduction controls and outright suppression of betting visibility.
While Alves’ prohibition bill will now progress to the Senate’s next review stage, its political backing beyond the Science and Technology Committee remains unclear, as observers ponder which bloc/coalition will support its passage.
In advertising limbo, operators continue to market under the existing framework of the Bets framework (Law 14,790/23) and its accompanying ordinances. Television advertising remains permitted, campaigns are banned from targeting minors, and licensed platforms are prohibited from using bonus incentives.
The ban on bonuses remains a point of contention as the Brazilian operators argue that the restriction has inadvertently become an onboarding tool for black-market operators that face no such compliance limits.
Brazil’s regulated betting launch in 2025 was largely dominated by compliance build-out, licensing approvals and tax enforcement, capped by Congress at the close of the year while approving a new phased fiscal plan to raise gambling duties to 15% by 2028.
2026 is now shaping up as a direct political battleground over advertising itself — with lawmakers, regulators and industry camps firmly pitched on opposing sides, and the final regulatory destination for betting promotion in Brazil still far from settled.