Brazil: Deputy proposes national strategy to fight gambling addiction
Deputy José Guimarães has introduced a bill creating a nationwide framework to prevent, detect and treat gambling addiction.
Government leader in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, José Guimarães, has presented a bill establishing the “National Strategy to Combat Gambling Addiction,” a comprehensive framework aimed at addressing the growing concerns surrounding compulsive gambling.
The proposal seeks to create coordinated policies across operators, regulators and public-health networks, focusing on prevention, early detection and specialized treatment.
Under the bill, licensed operators would face a series of new responsibilities.
Platforms would be required to offer dedicated reporting channels, conduct monthly behavioural screening tests during customer onboarding and automatically exclude users who show signs of compulsive behaviour.
Operators would also need to send weekly messages to players with reminders about loss limits, risk management and safe-play practices.
The proposal includes a full ban on credit-card payments for betting activity, a measure intended to reduce impulsive spending and prevent players from accumulating high-interest debt while gambling.
The Ministry of Finance would be tasked with regulating user-activated spending-limit tools and could also impose restrictions on advertising, determining the formats, content, mediums and broadcast times permitted for betting campaigns.
Beyond the operator level, the strategy outlines a broader public-health response. It calls for national awareness campaigns, mandatory alerts about the signs of gambling addiction and the development of integrated care pathways for individuals affected by compulsive gambling.
The bill also envisions new training initiatives for health-care and social-assistance professionals, support for scientific research and the creation of official criteria to identify behavioural risk factors.
The measure additionally addresses self-exclusion mechanisms, requiring both online platforms and physical betting venues to implement tools that allow players to block their own access remotely, which aligns with recent measures by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting.
It also establishes rules for inter-institutional cooperation and funding of programmes dedicated to prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
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