The Instituto Brasileiro de Jogo Responsável (IBJR) has published a response to volume II of the “A saúde dos brasileiros em jogo” dossier from health policy institute IEPS, released on Tuesday 10 November.

The IBJR said it agrees that bettors’ health and the fight against gambling disorder should be central to the debate, but argued that the dossier does not prove that banning the regulated market protects society. It has made similar points before the Supreme Court hearing.

Protections under regulation

The IBJR listed measures that came in with regulation in early 2025:

  • CPF verification and facial recognition, and a ban on betting by minors.
  • Spending limits and a centralised self-exclusion system used by 1.2 million people by August 2026.
  • More than 3 million social programme beneficiaries blocked from betting.
  • More than 66,000 illegal sites blocked.
  • Active bettors down 7.6% even before Provisional Measure 1.394/2026.

The figures in dispute

  • 400% increase: the IBJR says this refers to work absences, which rose from 67 in 2023 to 363 in 2025, and that the Labour Ministry has no data linking dismissals directly to addiction.
  • 12.8 million at risk: based on interviews from 2022 and 2023, a period the authors themselves say does not allow the current prevalence to be measured.
  • R$30.6bn: a theoretical estimate using costs imported from the UK, not actual spending by Brazil’s public health system (SUS).

The IBJR noted that health received R$45.8m from the regulated sector in 2025, a transfer the current Provisional Measure cuts to zero. It wants robust enforcement and the SUS to be the main recipient of tax revenue.

Proibir não acaba com a aposta, apenas elimina a rede de proteção construída e empurra o consumidor para a vulnerabilidade absoluta.

(Translated from Portuguese: Prohibition does not end betting; it only removes the protection network that was built and pushes consumers into absolute vulnerability.)

The challenges to the ban in the courts are currently frozen after Justice Luiz Fux suspended lower-court lawsuits.