Brazil Betting Ban: Supermarket Sales Up 6.5% in the Week of Oct. 5-11, Abras Says

Updated on October 28, 2026.

The Brazilian Supermarket Association (Abras) says supermarket sales in Brazil rose 6.5% in the week of Oct. 5-11 and 6.3% in the week of Oct. 12-18, compared with the same weeks of 2025. It credits the betting ban that took effect on Sept. 25. A fact-check published Tuesday (Oct. 27) says the numbers don’t prove that link.

Quick summary

• What Abras says: food retail sales rose 6.5% (Oct. 5-11) and 6.3% (Oct. 12-18), year over year, led by rice, cooking oil, pasta and coffee.
• The ban: Provisional Measure 1,394/2026, signed on Sept. 25, bans fixed-odds betting in Brazil.
• Pix: Abras ties the rise to a 10% drop in Pix instant payments after the ban, citing Central Bank data.
• The doubts: a BNLData fact-check says Abras hasn’t published its method, and the Central Bank hasn’t linked the Pix drop to betting.
• Same weeks: bettors got refunds of their site balances from Oct. 9 to 14, according to BNLData.

What Abras says about the Brazil betting ban and supermarket sales

Abras says the Brazil betting ban lifted supermarket sales by 6.5% in the first week after betting sites went offline. The figures were first reported by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo on Oct. 27, and Abras president João Galassi presented them the same day at the Supervendas trade fair in Aracaju, according to BNLData.

According to Monitor Mercantil, Abras says the growth reached every food retail channel: supermarkets, cash-and-carry stores and small grocers. The biggest gains were in staples: rice, cooking oil, pasta and coffee. Galassi said the survey measures volume, not revenue, according to BNLData.

Abras also points to Central Bank data. Pix transactions fell 10% right after the ban, and the gap is now 7%, according to the association. Pix is Brazil’s instant payment system.

Growth was uneven across regions:

Region	Oct. 5-11	Oct. 12-18
Brazil	6.5%	6.3%
South	10.6%	9%
Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and inland Rio de Janeiro state	10.6%	7.1%
Northeast	6.5%	4.5%
Inland São Paulo state	5.6%	5.6%
Greater Rio de Janeiro	4%	6%
Center-West	3.6%	3.5%
Greater São Paulo	1.2%	5.5%

Source: Abras, via Monitor Mercantil. Each figure compares the week with the same week of 2025.

Did the betting ban cause the rise in supermarket sales?

It hasn’t been shown. BNLData, a Brazilian gaming industry outlet, published a fact-check on Oct. 27 saying Abras is claiming a cause that its two weeks of data can’t support.

These are its main points:

• No published study. Abras released the numbers but no report or methodology. BNLData says it asked the association’s press office and had no reply when it published.
• One-off cash. About a week after the ban, 22.9 million bettors still had R$1.45 billion on betting sites, according to Brazil’s Ministry of Finance. Refunds reached bank accounts from Oct. 9 to 14, the same weeks Abras measured.
• Falling prices. Ground coffee was down 15.27% this year in Abras’ own price basket, and soybean oil was down 10.23%. Cheaper staples can lift purchases on their own.
• The Pix drop. The 10% figure covers three days, Sept. 26 to 28, according to BNLData. The Central Bank didn’t blame it on betting, and a rule had already barred Pix payments to betting sites, so they would have dropped out of the numbers anyway.

BNLData says this doesn’t make the retail figures false. It says only that the data, as released, can’t isolate the effect of the ban.

How do these numbers compare with past years, and what comes next?

Weekly growth near 6% isn’t unusual in Abras’ series. In 2025, weeks 31 and 36 grew 5.8% and 8.6%, according to BNLData. The base is also weak: in October 2025, the retail data firm Scanntech reported a 3.6% drop in sales, BNLData says.

The holiday calendar matters too. The Oct. 12 holiday fell on a Monday in this year’s second week, but on a Sunday a year earlier.

Abras has criticized betting for more than a year. On Oct. 1, it called the ban “late.” In 2024, Abras vice president Marcio Milan said there was no data that directly tied weaker supermarket sales to betting. And in a release on Oct. 6, Abras credited August’s growth to jobs, income and lower food prices, without mentioning betting.

What comes next: Abras hasn’t said when it will publish the full study. More weeks of data will show whether the rise lasts once the refunds are spent. The ban itself is also under review: Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux kept it in force and called a public hearing on the Brazil betting ban for Nov. 3. For the earlier steps, see our stories on the court order to freeze refund money and why the ban stayed after Lula’s re-election.

What it means for players outside Brazil

Nothing changes if you play outside Brazil. The measure covers fixed-odds betting in Brazil only, and the rules where you live come from your own country, state or province. This article is for information only and is not legal advice.

Wherever you play, set a budget you can afford to lose and keep it separate from your living expenses. Our poker bankroll calculator helps you size it.

If you play real-money poker from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia or Ireland, compare the best online poker sites for your country, and see how rakeback works before you choose.

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Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Monitor Mercantil: Abras reports higher consumption after the betting ban (in Portuguese)
• BNLData: fact-check of the Abras claim linking the end of betting to consumption (in Portuguese)
• Panrotas: Brazilian households buy more staples after the betting ban (in Portuguese)
• Mercado & Consumo: Abras says the betting ban came late (in Portuguese)

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