Lula victory in Brazil election likely means iGaming will be offshore for long time: Blask

The victory of the left-wing candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil’s presidential-election runoff on Sunday is likely to mean “iGaming will be offshore in the country for a long time”. So suggested market analytics platform Blask in an update about the Brazil market. It said demand for iGaming in the country was down 13.3 percent week-on-week in the seven days from October 19 to October 25, from an already low base. On September 25, prior to the first round of the presidential election on October 4, Mr Lula da Silva, as incumbent head of state, had issued a provisional measure prohibiting the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting in the country. Domestic-based and -licensed online providers were required to go offline by October 6. Nonetheless, the final prohibition on domestic suppliers remains subject to congressional approval and has been challenged by industry groups before Brazil’s Supreme Court. Blask said in its latest analysis that Brazil’s 13.3 percent week-on-week fall in online gaming demand in the seven days to October 25 comes “as the shutdown is still unwinding”. It added: “Presidential elections finished on 25 October, with Lula da Silva as the winner… It means that iGaming will be offshore in the country for a long time.” Blask stated: “The Brazilian president did a lot to make [the] Blask Index fall for more than a month.” The platform said iGaming demand was down 96 percent one month after the betting ban. The Blask Index reading fell from 7.26 million before the ban to just 288,000 during October 19 to 25, “returning to levels last seen in 2019”. It added that even demand in Brazil for offshore-based online gaming providers “remained 9 percent below its pre-ban level, challenging expectations of a large-scale shift to unlicensed operators”.