Senator calls for betting ban over fears it is negatively influencing Brazilian football
In a speech during a Senate plenary session on Friday, Girão called for a ban on betting to be implemented, amid fears over the sector’s influence on Brazilian football.
Girão blamed betting in Brazil, which launched its regulated online sector on 1 January, for increases in addiction and family debt.
With the vote to legalise land-based betting rumoured to be on the horizon, Girão has called for the entire sector to be banned, having authored a bill towards the end of 2024 that aimed to repeal the betting laws.
The bill in question is still waiting for a rapporteur to be appointed.
“We need to stop this humanitarian tragedy that is betting,” Girão said. “Only a few win: tycoons. And those who lose are millions. For me, it has to end. I have a bill to end it, to ban sports betting again.
“The damage has already been done, the signs are there. And there are still people with zero responsibility towards the Brazilian population, with zero social commitment, who are thinking of putting casinos and bingo halls to a vote in this House in the coming weeks.”
Girão has long been an opponent of gambling in Brazil, but he failed in his bid earlier this year to become the Senate president, losing out to betting advocate Davi Alcolumbre.
Influence of betting on Brazilian football
Alongside his bill to ban sports betting, Girão is also the author of PL 3,405/2023, which would prohibit use of celebrities in advertising to bet on sporting events.
That bill, alongside PL 2,985/2023, which would restrict the times during which betting ads can be broadcast, are set to be voted on this Wednesday.
If the bills are approved by the Sports Commission on Wednesday, they will be forwarded for analysis by the Communication and Digital Law Commission, which will have the final decision on whether to pass them as laws.
Girão claims the football industry’s dependence on betting sponsorships is harmful to the sport. He has called for a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) to be set up to investigate wrongdoing by the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF).
Senator Soraya Thronicke, head of the CPI on betting, previously said the group was “having enormous difficulty – enormous – in investigating large betting companies that sponsor games in Brazil; the CBF, for example.”