For 38-year-old Leandro Valdivia, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ’s pre-election crackdown on fixed-odds betting came too late to save his marriage or $26,000 from his bank account. Still, he has anxiously checked the news since the government's ban was announced on Friday, fearing a judge will strike it down.
Brazil's betting market is in turmoil since Lula, nine days before the first round of presidential elections, signed an order to ban all platforms. In a tightly contested election, that prohibition is one of the few measures of his that even supporters of rival Flávio Bolsonaro support. And that could be decisive ahead of Sunday’s tight vote.
