The government of Brazil is working on an ambitious financial relief program for families and small businesses, and in that process it has put a condition on the table that no one expected: those who access the benefits could be forced to abandon online betting. The measure, still under study, reflects a specific concern of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva‘s economic team about the spending habits of beneficiaries and the sustainability of the financial relief that the State is preparing to offer.
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The discussion takes place in a sensitive electoral context, in which the debt of Brazilian households has become a political priority. According to information from Folha de S.Paulo, the Ministry of Finance is moving forward with the design of the program with the aim of implementing it before the electoral period.
Who could benefit from the renegotiation program
The initiative targets three main groups: individuals, self-employed workers, micro-enterprises, and small businesses. For individuals, the program would focus on the three most common and costly debt categories: bank overdrafts, credit cards, and unsecured personal loans. The economic team is also evaluating incorporating student debt into the renegotiation scheme.
The operating model proposed by the financial sector contemplates that renegotiations will not be managed through a centralized government platform, as occurred with the Desenrola Brasil program, but directly through each financial institution’s own channels. In addition, banks propose including the completion of a financial education course as a mandatory requirement to access the benefits.
Why the government wants to limit betting as a condition of access
The logic behind the possible restriction on online betting is direct: the economic team considers that it would make no sense for the State to help a person settle their debts under more favorable conditions only for them to then allocate their disposable income to gambling. An official who participated in the discussions, quoted by Folha de S.Paulo, put it in those precise terms.
The diagnosis of the financial sector reinforces this concern. Banking institutions point out that the debt of Brazilian households is structurally concentrated in the low-income population and in high-cost financial products, a profile that largely coincides with that of the regular bettor on digital platforms. For the government, allowing beneficiaries to continue betting while receiving state assistance would represent a real risk of the debt cycle repeating itself.
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Resistance from the betting sector and the risk of illegal platforms
Entities representing the online betting market in Brazil have already expressed their concern about the possible restriction. Their main argument is that such a measure could cause bettors to migrate to illegal platforms, which operate without the controls or guarantees required by current regulation. This scenario, they warn, would create a greater problem than the one intended to be solved.
The financial obstacles facing the program
Beyond the discussion on betting, the program faces a structural financing problem. According to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Operations Guarantee Fund (FGO) currently has less than 1 million reais for new guarantees, a figure considered insufficient for the initiative to be viable at the projected scale.
One of the alternatives being studied is to use the so-called “forgotten resources” in banks, which according to the Central Bank’s Values to be Received System (SVR) amount to 10,5 million reais. However, their use faces methodological and legal obstacles: a 2024 law established that these funds must be accounted for as primary income, a classification that the Central Bank does not share and that has so far prevented the transfer from being finalized. The Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) also represents a hurdle, given that it has already opposed similar operations in the past.
What is needed for the program to become a reality
The final format of the program is not yet defined. Secretary Dario Durigan met on March 30 with representatives of the financial sector to analyze the design of the initiative, and conversations continue. Among the pending points are the source of resources to capitalize the FGO, whether or not to cover debts with public utility companies such as energy and water, and the feasibility of implementing the restriction on betting without generating unwanted effects in the market.
The economic team understands that, even if the program does not manage to cover all types of debt in its initial version, bank debt relief will increase the disposable income of families and allow them, indirectly, to regularize other outstanding obligations.
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