In an article published this Wednesday (29) on the Poder 360 portal, lawyer José Francisco Manssur criticized the use of bets as a “scapegoat” to blame family debt in an election year.
Manssur made a point of remembering, in this sense, that the data shows that the greatest weight on family budgets is the cost of credit, not online gambling.
Why bets are not the main driver of family debt
A CNT survey revealed a clear gap between social perception and facts: more than 70% of the population see platforms as a major problem, but only 11.3% say they bet.
Furthermore, when looking at the real proportion, a study by LCA Consultoria showed that spending on betting represents only 0.46% of Brazilian consumption.
According to Manssur, this role of “scapegoat” has been attributed to bets by the candidates’ marketers.
“The scale of debt in Brazil is much more linked to the cost of credit, especially the revolving card, than to the universe of regulated betting”, explained the lawyer.
He also highlighted that the president of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo, has already confirmed that the root of national default is linked to the card’s revolving credit card.
“On the one hand, 25.2 million Brazilians placed bets throughout 2025, according to the official balance of the Prizes and Bets Secretariat.
On the other, more than 100 million people are exposed to one of the most expensive forms of credit in the financial system.”
The danger of attacking the authorized market and strengthening organized crime
For Manssur, in addition to not resolving the credit crisis, this government attitude weakens a sector that operates under strict transparency rules.
The regularized market in the “bet.br” domain generated R$9.95 billion in taxes in 2025, created thousands of qualified jobs and complies with the rule prohibiting the use of credit cards on platforms, which actively protects the user against future debts.
The lawyer made a point of highlighting the role of the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) in regulating bets.
“SPA is the body of the Ministry of Finance responsible for authorizing, regulating, monitoring, inspecting and sanctioning the sector.
Thanks to the regulatory and inspection work of the SPA, recognized worldwide, and the commitment of authorized bets, Brazil now has a segment with more than 80 authorized companies, which generates thousands of qualified jobs, creates indirect positions in call centers, means of payment and marketing, collected around R$9.95 billion in 2025 between taxes and legal allocations and should still produce additional revenue in 2026 with the increase in taxation in the sector”, he stated.
Manssur concluded by saying that, in short, the error lies in preferring the “scapegoat” to the correct diagnosis. “Campaign marketers are more pleased to blame the bets than to face the old national tragedy of expensive credit.
It is simpler to moralize the debate than to admit that the main weight in Brazilians’ pockets continues to come from the card bill, the revolving account, the special check and the income that does not keep up with the cost of living”.
