Solidarity goes to the STF to ask for blocking of betting sites

The Solidariedade Party will file a lawsuit this weekend in the Federal Supreme Court (STF) asking that the law approved in 2023 that regulates online betting in Brazil, the so-called bets, be declared unconstitutional. The precautionary action will also call for the suspension of the law and the immediate blocking of bookmaker websites.

To justify the request, the party alleges the lack of standards that protect users against compulsive practice and prevent socioeconomic damage linked to games that have increased family debt. The party also warns that resources previously allocated to consumer goods and family subsistence have now been allocated to betting.

Federal deputy Paulinho da Força, president of the party, said that if betting remains at levels similar to those recorded last month, around R$250 billion per year will be spent on betting – more than R$12 billion per month , which, according to him, can lead to a process of extreme poverty.

This week, a technical note prepared by the Central Bank (BC) revealed that Bolsa Família beneficiaries spent R$3 billion on bets via Pix in August alone. This led the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Combating Hunger (MDS) to announce on Friday (27) the creation of a Working Group to analyze the use of card resources in online betting.

An action similar to the one proposed by Solidariedade was filed with the STF this week. It was filed by the National Confederation of Commerce in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC). The entity justified that online betting caused 1.3 million Brazilians to become negative in the first half of this year alone. A hearing to discuss the issue at the STF was scheduled by Minister Luiz Fux for November 11th.