Lula complains about Caixa’s plan to create bets and asks for explanations
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva decided to summon the president of Caixa Econômica Federal, Carlos Vieira, to a meeting after learning of the announcement that the bank will launch its own sports betting system. The meeting should take place as soon as Lula returns from Asia.
The announcement of the “bet da Caixa” was made by Vieira last Monday, in an interview with the “Money Times” website. According to the bank’s president, the betting platform should be launched at the end of November, with a forecast of raising R$2 billion to R$2.5 billion in 2026.
In an interview with GLOBO last year, Vieira expressed Caixa’s desire to become one of the main players in the betting market in the country.
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Caixa’s betting house was approved by the Secretary of Prizes and Bets of the Ministry of Finance, the body responsible for analyzing whether companies meet the requirements to operate in the sports betting market. The secretariat’s analysis, however, was formal and technical in nature, without going into political merit.
Lula’s discomfort with Caixa’s initiative was confirmed by the president’s assistants and also by sources at the bank’s top level. According to allies, the creation of a betting house by a federal public bank goes against the critical discourse that the government has adopted in relation to sports betting.
After Carlos Vieira’s announcement, the Lula government became the target of criticism from opposition parliamentarians, such as senators Cleitinho (PL-MG) and Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF), but also from influencers more aligned with the left, such as economist Nath Finance.
Lula has insisted on the need to increase tax rates for betting houses. The government decided to send Congress again, in the coming days, a proposal that expands the taxation of bets and fintechs.
