In just half a year, Brazilians bet around R$287 billion on legal betting platforms .
The volume is equivalent to approximately 3% of the country's annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the calculation is an exclusive estimate from Aposta Legal , made using official data from the Ministry of Finance's Prizes and Bets Secretariat (SPA-MF).
The nearly R$300 billion bet by Brazilians corresponds to the gross volume that circulated on legal platforms, including the money re-bet by players after receiving winnings.
Of this amount played, the Brazilian government highlighted that legal betting houses returned approximately 94% of the prizes . In other words, legal market bettors received approximately R$270 billion in prizes between January and June 2025.
This is one of the main differences in the regulated market: the high rate of return ensures that most of the money goes back to the bettor.
According to the SPA, the 78 companies authorized by the Ministry of Finance, which operate in the country under 182 brands , together recorded R$17.4 billion in gross revenue (GGR) in the first half of the year. This amount is the amount actually kept by the operators after premium payments.
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The number is impressive in its scale: in six months, bets generate figures that rival entire markets in the Brazilian economy, making bets more profitable than banks and industry sectors.
Brazil has 17 million gamblers
At the same time, the sector boasts a significant player base. 17.7 million unique CPFs placed bets at legal bookmakers in the first half of the year, solidifying Brazil as one of the world's largest markets in terms of user numbers.
Estimates from Feed Construct indicated that the whole of Latin America could reach 10 million bettors by 2029, a number that was surpassed only by Brazil, in the first half of the year after regulation.
Part of the revenue from the regulated market goes directly to financing public policies.
Of the GGR recorded in the semester, approximately R$2.14 billion was allocated to areas such as sports, tourism, public safety, education, health and social security.
