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Brazil’s Senate has hastily approved a bill to impose major restrictions on online gambling advertising, threatening to move the goalposts for the country’s newly licensed operators.
The Senate voted late Wednesday (May 28) to pass Senate bill PL.2985, in a surprise move that came mere hours after the Senate’s sports committee approved a heavily amended version of the betting advertising bill.
As originally introduced, PL.2985 would have imposed a blanket ban on all advertising for any form of fixed-odds betting.
However, the measure, as passed by the Senate, includes a series of more nuanced restrictions, partly reflecting the input of frenzied lobbying from Brazilian sports and media organisations in the wake of two public hearings held by the sports committee last month.
Introducing PL.2985 on the Senate floor after senators agreed to expedite the bill, Senator Carlos Portinho said the measure would offer Brazil’s nascent online betting industry a “last chance” to avoid an outright advertising ban by establishing “restrictive measures and clear rules, which seek to balance economic activity with social protection”.
“The proposal seeks to find a way not to completely ban sports betting [advertising] — or at least not yet,” said Portinho, a senator from Rio de Janeiro state who was appointed as rapporteur for the bill on behalf of the sports committee.
“But to dramatically reduce the exposure to young people and children who are not or should not be the target audience for online betting, while avoiding the ambush marketing that is occurring now, especially at stadiums and sports arenas.”
As approved by the Senate, PL.2975 would ban all print ads for Brazil’s newly licensed online betting platforms and impose a watershed on broadcast advertising.
Ads on television, streaming services and online platforms would be allowed strictly between 7:30pm and midnight, with the exception of two windows of 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after the broadcast of live sports events. A "whistle-to-whistle" ban would prevent any ads from airing once a sports event has started.
Betting platforms would have somewhat more freedom to advertise on Brazilian radio channels between 9am and 11am and between 5pm and midnight, which Portinho said was justified because fewer young people listen to the radio than watch television.
Meanwhile, betting companies would also be permitted to sponsor sports events or programmes broadcast at any time during the day, provided only their brand or logo is displayed and no additional promotional messages are aired beyond identifying the operator as the sponsor.
In another significant restriction, the bill would prohibit all billboards or electronic marketing for online betting sites from being displayed within Brazilian sports stadiums and arenas, apart from when the operator is the presenting sponsor of the event or where it has the naming rights for the stadium, arena or competition.
The bill would also ban athletes, influencers, artists or other individuals from appearing in any advertisements for online betting or casino games. The only exception would be for former athletes who have been retired for a minimum of five years.
That exemption was the subject of debate earlier Wednesday before the Senate’s sports committee, where Senator Romario, the legendary former footballer, argued it was necessary because many ex-athletes face financial hardship and rely upon income from endorsements.
Other provisions of bill PL.2795 include:
- A ban on any advertising of dynamic or live odds for sports betting, other than on operators’ own websites or platforms.
- A requirement for all ads to include a specific warning message that “Betting is addictive and causes harm to you and your family”.
- A requirement for any betting ads via social networks or other platforms to be viewable only by users who are verified as being at least 18 years of age.
- A ban on any text messages, pop-up notifications or other communications without the betting operator having first obtained the express consent of the user.
- Provisions to allow the continued sponsorship of shirts and other sports equipment by betting companies, except for equipment used by athletes aged under 18 or by referees and officials.
After passing the Senate, the bill now must be approved by the lower house of Brazil’s Congress, where it could first be considered by one or more specialist committees.
If enacted, the new advertising restrictions would all take effect after 90 days. The lone exception would be the restrictions on billboards and other in-stadium advertising, which would become effective within 12 months.
Football Teams, Betting Operators Raise Alarm
The Senate’s decision to fast-track the advertising bill came despite firm opposition from one of Brazil’s most prominent institutions.
Earlier this week, 50 clubs in the top three divisions of Brazil’s football league released a joint letter to warn that the proposed ban on billboard ads and PL.2795’s other restrictions could cost them up to US$280m in annual revenue and cause their “financial collapse”.
Portinho acknowledged the teams’ letter when discussing his bill on Wednesday, but he insisted that sports teams had been able to move on to other sponsors after earlier ad bans were imposed on alcohol and tobacco.
Leading online gambling operators licensed in Brazil were also quick to voice their concerns as PL.2795 advanced quickly out of the sports committee and onto the Senate floor.
In a statement, Brazilian betting industry association IBJR said the measure would “impose severe restrictions on advertising by legal betting operators, leaving the field even more open for the unregulated market”.
The association, whose members include bet365, Entain, Flutter, Betano and other major operators, added that gambling advertising was already subject to “robust and continuously improving” regulations via an August 2024 ordinance of Brazil’s Secretariat for Prizes and Bets (SPA) and a specific chapter of the Brazilian advertising code enforced by standards body CONAR.
“This proposal weakens the ability of legal betting companies to communicate with bettors, compromising the sustainability of a regulated industry committed to responsible gaming,” IBJR stated.
For its part, the head of the SPA recently reaffirmed the regulator’s opposition to draconian restrictions on advertising, while also acknowledging that it is up to Congress to have clear authority to determine whether the existing rules should be tightened.
“Our concern with a prohibition on advertising is that, with a total ban, the public will lose the means of identifying licensed operators,” Regis Dudena, the SPA’s secretary, told Brazilian newspaper Exame last month. “If prohibition becomes a reality, we will have to create other mechanisms to help bettors identify authorised operators.”
By passing the advertising bill so quickly, the Senate also appears to have undercut a wider and ongoing investigation into Brazil’s online betting market that is being conducted by a special commission (CPI) established by the Congress’ upper house last October.
That Senate commission has a mandate to make specific legislative recommendations related to influencer marketing and the use of AI by betting platforms, among other areas, and it is due to conclude its work by June 14.
The CPI has descended into farce in recent weeks, however, following a series of performative public hearings involving prominent social-media personalities and repeated allegations of bribery.
As such, most industry observers are not expecting the CPI’s forthcoming report to result in further legislative reforms, even as debates on advertising, tax and other matters continue in Congress.
