Who Would Have Guessed a Bank Would Launch a Betting App?

Brazil is preparing to bring another big player into its online betting market. Caixa Econômica Federal, one of the country’s largest state-owned banks, plans to roll out its own online gambling platform in the second half of 2025.

Good to know

• Caixa expects to generate BR2 billion in 2025 and up to BR7 billion in 2026.
• The new platform will be integrated into a single app for all Caixa digital services.
• President Carlos Vieira says the system will include responsible gaming tools.

The platform will operate alongside Caixa’s well-established lottery services. According to President Carlos Vieira, it will be housed in a new mobile app that combines the bank’s various digital services. He confirmed that the Ministry of Finance had already authorized the project last year.

Caixa currently brings in massive revenue from lotteries—BR26 billion in 2024 alone. Almost half of that total went back to the government through taxes. The new betting platform is expected to build on that success by using Caixa’s long-standing experience in running national lottery games.

Vieira tried to ease fears about potential gambling harm, saying: 

“There are games all over the world. We will invest heavily in advertising and monitoring social behaviour around this. We have responsible gaming mechanisms.”

Despite Caixa’s optimism, President Lula has voiced concern. He warned about the social risks tied to betting and publicly supported higher taxes on gambling companies to help fund public expenses.

Elsewhere in the country, São Paulo operators are coming together to form a new trade union aimed at representing the regulated sector. The effort highlights the broader shift toward a more formal structure for Brazil’s gambling industry, which is expanding quickly but still dealing with policy gaps and enforcement issues.