Brazil's Bookmakers Serve a Presidential Candidate a Demand to Retract on Bets

The ANJL has sent Romeu Zema, the Novo party's candidate whose campaign wants betting abolished outright, an extrajudicial notice demanding a public correction of "false" statements about the regulated market, under threat of a damages claim. It is the association's second notification this week and its third target this year.

• The Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL) has sent an extrajudicial notification to presidential candidate Romeu Zema demanding that he publicly retract and correct statements about the regulated betting market, according to BNLData and Focus Gaming News
• The association says statements Zema made in interviews, an official note, events and social media "distort data on the functioning of the market", and that it may pursue him in court for moral and material damages if he does not comply
• ANJL president Plínio Lemos Jorge said the regulated sector "will not accept discourse based on guesswork or without evidence"
• Zema's campaign has told an economic debate that it favours "the extinction and total prohibition" of all forms of sports betting, describing it as "a political decision", the only candidacy with an official abolition position, BNLData reported
• The ANJL's own figures, as it presented them: 85 licensed operators, R$9.95 billion in tax paid in 2025 and R$7.28 billion in the first half of 2026, 1.2 million self-exclusions, and an illegal market it estimates at up to R$40 billion a year

A Trade Body Puts a Presidential Candidate on Notice

The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), which represents licensed operators in Brazil, has sent an extrajudicial notification to Romeu Zema, the Novo party's candidate for the presidency, over statements about the regulated sports betting and online gaming market, BNLData reported on Tuesday. The association says the statements, made in interviews, an official note, at events and on social media, contain false information and "distort data on the functioning of the market, contributing to the spread of mistaken information among public opinion and regulatory bodies".

The notification demands that Zema publicly retract and correct the statements, and says that if he does not, he may be held liable in court for moral and material damages. The association argues the statements have a direct impact on the reputation of companies operating legally in the sector and generate disinformation among consumers and policymakers. Neither BNLData's report nor Focus Gaming News's, which relayed it on Tuesday, sets out which specific claims the association objects to, and there is no record of a response from the Zema campaign in either.

"The regulated betting sector, made up of companies authorised by the federal government which rigorously meet their tax obligations, will not accept discourse based on guesswork or without evidence," said ANJL president Plínio Lemos Jorge. "As well as being an irresponsible attitude, this kind of positioning shows a lack of concern on the candidate's part to address relevant subjects on the basis of concrete facts and technical data."

The association set out its own account of the market alongside the demand. Brazil's legal market has 85 authorised companies, it said, which paid R$9.95 billion in tax across 2025 and R$7.28 billion in the first half of 2026 alone; the regulated sector records 1.2 million voluntary self-exclusions and directs 13% of its revenue to sport, health, public security and education. Against that, more than 60,000 clandestine sites have been blocked by the authorities, and up to R$40 billion a year is estimated still to circulate outside the regulated system.

The Position the Candidate Is Being Asked to Correct

Zema's campaign is the only one running on abolition. At a debate of the leading candidates' economic spokespeople reported by BNLData on Tuesday, Carlos da Costa, a former special secretary at the economy ministry speaking for Zema, said the candidacy favours "the extinction and total prohibition of all forms of sports betting in the country", and described it as "a political decision" rather than a technical or fiscal one. BNLData noted that none of the spokespeople who favoured restriction or abolition explained how the lost tax revenue would be replaced. Finance minister Dario Durigan, speaking for President Lula, who called betting "a disease" this week, and the spokespeople for Augusto Cury, Renan Santos and Ronaldo Caiado also took part; Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign declined to attend.

The notification is the ANJL's second this week, after its demand to TikTok, X, Google and Meta for a plan against influencers promoting unlicensed operators, and at least its third of the year: in April it notified the pollster Datafolha over what it called imprecise and untransparent reporting on the betting market, according to Yogonet. It has also taken the state of Minas Gerais, which Zema governed before stepping down to run, to the Supreme Court over a decree restricting betting advertising, Focus Gaming News reported earlier this year.

Serving a Candidate Is a Campaign Tactic, Not a Legal One

An extrajudicial notification in Brazil is a formal letter, not a lawsuit, and its value here is not the damages claim it threatens, which against a presidential candidate over campaign statements would be a long shot in any court. Its value is the news cycle: the association has put "false statements" and the candidate's name in the same headline under three weeks from the first round, and forced the abolition camp to either produce its evidence or be seen declining to. That is a legitimate move for an industry whose licence to exist is on the ballot, and it is also a sign of how exposed the licensed sector feels. Trade bodies that are winning do not serve notice on candidates.

The Numbers Are the Sector's Best Argument and Its Most Contested

R$9.95 billion in tax and 1.2 million self-exclusions are the two figures the ANJL leads with, and both cut two ways. The tax number is the fiscal hole an abolitionist would have to fill, which BNLData's debate coverage says no campaign has explained; it is also the number that makes the state a partner in the activity the candidate wants banned. The self-exclusion figure shows the protections working and shows the scale of the harm they are needed for. The candidate the association has notified is not disputing that the market exists; his campaign wants it gone, and a trade body cannot notify its way out of that argument.

Every Other Candidacy Is Already Where the Industry Fears Zema Will Take Them

BNLData's summary of the debate is that restriction of advertising commands consensus across the economic teams, including the incumbent government's, and that the real break is over whether to abolish. That means the licensed sector's best case after October is a president who restricts further, and its worst is one who ends it. The ANJL is fighting the worst case in public because the best case is already conceded.

The association has demanded that a candidate correct his facts. The election will decide whether the facts were ever the point.