President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) stated, this Sunday (6), that he will “put an end” to sports betting in Brazil if the regulation does not work.
“We are making regulations and, in October, we will remove 2,000 betting sites from this country. Then we will know what benefits the regulation will guarantee, we will be sure that things are being done seriously. If the regulation doesn’t work, I will have no doubts about putting an end to it definitively,” said the president.
The statements were made at the João Firmino Correia de Araújo State School, in São Bernardo do Campo, in ABC Paulista, the president’s voting location.
The PT member also said that it is not “acceptable” for Bolsa Família beneficiaries to use money for betting.
“We do not accept the idea that Bolsa Família people are spending money making bets, it is not possible that someone is doing that,” said Lula.
According to the Central Bank, in August alone, Bolsa Família beneficiaries spent R$3 billion on bets through pix.
Lula also stated that he treats betting addiction as a “disease”.
“I know people who lost their house, who lost their car, who spend their entire salary on a Friday or Saturday. This is a disease that we also need to treat from a health perspective”, he concluded.
Last Thursday (2), the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, stated that in the next few days around 2,000 betting sites will be taken offline.
From October 11th, betting shops that have not requested operating authorization from the Treasury or that have had their requests refused will be blocked.
