Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed a provisional executive order banning fixed-odds sports betting, just over a week before the first round of the presidential election. The measure immediately ends betting operations, offerings, intermediation and advertising, prohibits new platform deposits and gives users until 5 October to withdraw funds. Congress must approve the order within 120 days for it to remain in force. Lula said the action was intended to address household debt and gambling addiction, while Flávio Bolsonaro, his main election rival, called it an electoral measure. The government has also drafted legislation creating criminal offences related to fixed-odds betting, including its promotion and the use of personal data to solicit bettors. Brazil opened online betting to the market in 2018 and later introduced regulation and taxation, but Lula’s administration has increasingly portrayed the sector as a public-health and economic problem.