Brazil's Lula bans online gambling ahead of presidential election

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has announced a prohibition connected online gambling, conscionable days earlier an predetermination successful which helium is seeking a 4th word arsenic the country's leader.

Lula, who is moving against the lad of the incarcerated erstwhile Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, signed a provisional bid connected Friday that "prohibits each sports betting and online casinos".

The online gambling manufacture successful Brazil was legalised successful 2018 and has since been blamed for wide household income losses owed to addiction.

Lula described the manufacture arsenic a "cancer" successful his announcement, adding "either we region the tumour, oregon it kills us".

The determination comes conscionable implicit a week earlier the archetypal circular of voting successful Brazil's statesmanlike election. Recent polls person the 80-year-old person astir neck-and-neck with Flávio Bolsonaro.

The caller measures indispensable person legislature support wrong 120 days to stay successful force.

Lula acknowledged online betting was created nether the erstwhile President Michel Temer's medication but that it "grew without regularisation nether Bolsonaro's management", successful a connection connected X .

He said that determination were "no restrictions" peculiarly for preventing children and adolescents from accessing online betting.

"We won't let betting companies to nett astatine the disbursal of Brazilian families' income and lives," the president added.

The president described however helium had heard from families who had sold everything successful their houses due to the fact that of their gambling addictions.

Separate to the online betting order, Lula besides signed a measure to penalise transgression offences related to fixed-odds betting.

Earlier this week, astatine the United Nations General Assembly, Lula accused the manufacture of "transforming addiction into profit".

But Flávio Bolsonaro called the gambling crackdown "populist, hypocritical and politically motivated" during a run rally successful Rio de Janeiro connected Friday, according to Reuters.

Most types of gambling, specified arsenic casinos and slot machines, are amerciable successful Brazil, but ever since online betting was legalised successful 2018, it has exploded successful popularity.

About 59.9% of Brazilian adults enactment banning net betting, a survey by Atlas and Bloomberg published this week has found.