So when Brazil switches this off, does the money stop?

Transcript

1. This button doesn't work anymore.
2. Licensed betting apps in Brazil still let people withdraw.
3. They won't take a deposit.
4. President Lula has banned online sports betting and casino-style games by decree.
5. So when Brazil switches this off, does the money stop?
6. Or does it just move?
7. He signed the decree on 25 September.
8. Deposits stopped that day.
9. People can withdraw through the apps until 5 October.
10. After that, banks are due to return what's left.
11. The licensed sites are due to close on 6 October.
12. Last year, bettors deposited about
13. R$230 billion with licensed betting companies.
14. That's more than $40 billion.
15. Over the same year, bettors lost about R$41 billion.
16. That was the companies' gaming revenue, before taxes and costs.
17. Across the year, losses came to about R$1 for every R$6 deposited.
18. How much came back out, the published figures don't say.
19. The government presented the ban as protection for families in debt.
20. Bolsa Família is Brazil's cash benefit for poor families.
21. The central bank looked at August 2024.
22. It estimated that 5 million people
23. in those families sent R$3 billion to betting companies that month.
24. The Supreme Court then ordered benefit money kept out of betting.
25. Federal licensing only began in January last year.
26. Each licence cost R$30 million.
27. The decree ends the licences after 30 days, with no refund.
28. The industry says it will sue.
29. It argues that people will keep betting on illegal sites.
30. A study the industry paid for estimates
31. that those sites already take about 4 in every 10 reais bet.
32. It's modelled on a survey of bettors, not payment records.
33. The decree also targets the payments that fund illegal sites.
34. Whether that works is not yet known.
35. The decree came 9 days before a presidential election.
36. Lula's main rival, Flávio Bolsonaro, called it populist and electioneering.
37. In a poll days earlier, 3 in 4 Brazilians backed a ban on online bets.
38. Congress still has to approve the decree in time, or it lapses.
39. The licensed apps are due to close on 6 October.
40. How much betting stops, and how much moves to illegal sites, is still unknown.