After MP’s defeat, PT presents project to double tax on betting shops

One day after the government’s defeat in the Chamber, the PT presented a new bill to double the taxation of online betting houses, known as bets. The text, filed this Thursday (9), proposes raising the sector’s rate from 12% to 24%, resuming the PT’s discourse of “BBB taxation” — bets, banks and billionaires.

The proposal also foresees that half of the additional revenue (12%) will be allocated to public health programs, especially aimed at treating and preventing gaming addiction.

According to the justification, the number of Brazilians with some type of gambling addiction already exceeds 2 million people, and services in the public network for “pathological gambling” grew by 300% between 2022 and 2024.

Also read

Decline of MP 1303: IOF, dividend and oil auction are options worth R$ 20 billion

Budget 2026 provided for collection with MP, which expired; for Caio Megale, from XP, the government needs to “tell a story” about how it will raise resources

Tarcísio accuses PT of campaigning against its reputation and criticizes Haddad: “Cut spending”

Governor of SP denied articulation against IOF MP, but was cited by PL leader

The PT’s movement occurs less than 24 hours after the Chamber removed Provisional Measure (MP) 1,303 from the agenda, which would increase taxes on the financial market and other sectors. The measure, considered essential for fiscal balance in 2026, lost its validity and represented the Lula government’s biggest defeat in Congress this year.

In the original version of the MP, the tax on bets would rise from 12% to 18%, but rapporteur Carlos Zarattini (PT-SP) removed the section to try to build an agreement with Centrão. The exclusion generated friction within the government base and reduced the proposal’s estimated revenue from R$20 billion to R$17 billion.

Behind the scenes, according to Folha de S. PauloPT parliamentarians admit that giving up betting taxation was a political and fiscal error. According to them, the decision weakened the government’s discourse that Centrão works to protect privileged sectors and ended up demobilizing part of the base. “The lobby was heavy, and the bet was to guarantee the general approval of the MP”, said a member of the bench.

With the overturn of the measure, the Lula government lost its forecast of collecting around R$35 billion between 2026 and 2027 and is now looking for alternatives to compensate for the loss of revenue.

The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, is evaluating new tax measures, which could include a decree to expand the IOF or the resumption of a fiscal regularization program for bets that operated before the regulation.

In a statement, the PT leader in the Chamber, Lindbergh Farias (RJ), defended the new proposal:

“Brazil already has more than 2 million people addicted to gambling. The increase in taxation is justified because gambling is harmful to health and the family economy, generating a drop in the consumption of food and medicine and an increase in debt.”