After Supreme Court pressure, the federal government moves to stop welfare funds from flowing into betting accounts.
The Brazilian Federal Government will stop Bolsa Familia (Family Allowance) beneficiaries from making new deposits in online gambling accounts. It will also stop BPC (Continuous Cash Benefit) beneficiaries from doing the same. This restriction will remain in place until the end of 2025. The measure follows a Supreme Federal Court ruling. It requires the government to prevent social assistance funds from being used for online betting.
After mounting pressure over welfare money funding gambling habits, the ruling came.
Regis Dudena, Secretary of Prizes and Gambling at the Ministry of Finance, says that the measure complies with an STF or Supreme Federal Court ruling. The court required the government to prevent the use of social assistance funds for online gambling. The government will enforce two restrictions. Beneficiaries cannot open new betting accounts, and those with existing accounts cannot make new deposits.
The government isn’t messing about with this enforcement mechanism.
Brazilian law requires users to register an individual tax ID number (CPF) and a bank account to hold online gambling accounts. The government will require an estimate of 80 licensed sports betting operators to check a centralized system given by the Serpro or Federal Data Processing whenever a new user registers or makes a deposit.
The numbers show just how many people this affects.
Family Allowance paid benefits in August to around 19.2 million families. This is equivalent to more than 50 million people. In July, the BPC had 3.75 million beneficiaries. Dudena explained that operators will use the system through an API without accessing data of all beneficiaries. Yet, it must check at specific points to make sure these beneficiaries cannot deposit money.
The real spending figures tell a different story from the headlines.
The Ministry of Finance estimates that effective monthly spending on online bets is around BR$2.9 billion ($580 million). This amount is calculated by subtracting prizes paid from total wagers. Reported by the Central Bank, this figure sits far below the BR$20-30 billion monthly figures. Averaging about BR$164 per active bettor monthly, around 17.7 million Brazilians placed bets in the first half of 2025.
