Where betting money actually goes
Betting operators paid R$ 2.48 billion to the federal government in the first half of 2026. Health got 1.18%.
The only line in the system earmarked to prevent and mitigate gambling harm received R$ 27.8 million. Tourism received 20.3× that; the government's unearmarked cash, 18.5×. This is not a one-off: health's share has been almost identical since regulation began.
This report uses two official spreadsheets with different bases and never adds them together. The half-year total comes from the Federal Revenue Service series, which is complete. The breakdown comes from the Treasury extract, whose 03/07/2026 pull had not yet closed June (R$ 401.5 million there, against R$ 513.0 million in the Revenue series). Health's share is the same on both bases.
Where every real went
Nine destinations, ranked by what they received between January and June 2026. The right-hand column shows how many times each received what health received.
Per day: R$ 153,512 for gambling harm. R$ 3.1 million for tourism.
Health's share never moved
The sector's split runs on fixed percentages. Health's share is almost identical across every cut since regulation began — what the half-year shows is the design, not an unusual month.
The predictable objection
The reading above will be challenged with one specific argument: that R$ 274.6 million is classified as social security, and health is part of social security. The argument does not hold, for two reasons.
The first is destination. That line appears in the extract under the unearmarked social-security funding source, with the Ministry of Finance as the body and Federal Treasury Revenue as the budget unit. It does not reach the Ministry of Health. The only line that lands in the National Health Fund is the R$ 27.8 million one.
The second is arithmetic. Even adding both, the result is 12.8% of the total — still below tourism and below unearmarked federal cash.
There is also the institutional contrast. The public accountability document devotes a section to responsible gambling and describes a harm-prevention working group made up of Finance, Health and Sport. In that same half-year, Sport received more than fifteen times what Health received.
R$ 514.1 million with no earmark
The sector's public accountability document splits the statutory allocation into nine slices — sport, tourism, public security, education, social security, health, the federal police fund, civil society and an industrial development agency. They add up to exactly 100%. None of them is the Treasury.
The Treasury extract carries a tenth line, under the Federal Treasury Revenue budget unit and the unearmarked federal funding source tied to revenue de-earmarking. That was R$ 514.1 million in the half-year and R$ 1.39 billion since the regime began.
De-earmarking is a constitutional and legitimate mechanism. The point is not that it exists: it is that the accountability document presents the allocation as fully earmarked for sport, tourism, education, health and security, when roughly one in every four reais of that same pot arrives as unearmarked cash. And the unearmarked money is 18.5× the money earmarked for health.
The split changed in May 2026
The split percentages match to two decimal places month after month, which makes any change visible and datable. One happened between April and May 2026: the federal police fund went from 0.46% to 7.33% of the pot — 15.8× — and every other earmarked line fell by the same 10.7%. The unearmarked line rose.
Methodology
Primary source: response to request 18800.116741/2026-07, addressed to Brazil's Ministry of Finance under the Freedom of Information Act (Law 12,527/2011), granted on 30 July 2026. Answered by the Prizes and Betting Secretariat and by the Federal Revenue Service.
Half-year total: net revenue series for fixed-odds lotteries by accrual month, from the Federal Revenue Service.
Breakdown: Treasury extract by revenue nature, body, budget unit and funding source, pulled on 03/07/2026 for 2026 and 12/06/2026 for 2025. Includes the two lines the spreadsheet classifies as amounts that pass through the budget without being public revenue.
Comparisons with official communication: Periodic Overview of the regulated fixed-odds betting market, first quarter of 2026, reference MF-SPA-SMF-RP-26-01-260507.
Consolidation, grouping by destination and calculation: VerificaBet. No spreadsheet line was discarded.
What this data does not say
It does not measure adequacy. The report compares proportions between destinations; it does not assess whether the amount allocated to health is adequate to demand, which would require cost, coverage and prevalence data absent from this base.
It does not measure execution. The extract shows what was collected and to which body and source it was allocated — not whether the money was committed, paid or spent.
June is incomplete in the breakdown base, which is why the half-year total and the breakdown come from different spreadsheets and are never added together.
Revenue de-earmarking is constitutional. Recording it does not imply irregularity; the finding is its absence from the public accountability document.
It does not allege irregularity by any body. The divergences pointed out are between official documents and are described as open questions.
Frequently asked questions
How much did betting pay Brazil's federal government in the first half of 2026?
R$ 2.48 billion, according to the Federal Revenue Service's net revenue series for fixed-odds lotteries, between January and June 2026. That is 47.8% more than the same period in 2025, and already equals roughly 60% of all of 2025 (R$ 4.16 billion).
How much of that went to health?
R$ 27.8 million — 1.18% of the total allocated. It is the only line in the system earmarked to prevent, control and mitigate gambling harm, and it lands in the National Health Fund. That equals R$ 1.83 per taxpayer ID that placed a bet in the period, and R$ 36.34 per person who requested self-exclusion in the half-year.
How much did tourism receive?
R$ 565.3 million, combining the Ministry of Tourism and Embratur — 20.3× what went to health. Embratur alone, the agency promoting Brazil as a tourist destination abroad, took R$ 152.7 million, or 5.5× health's amount.
What is the unearmarked federal cash line?
It is the unearmarked federal funding source, tied to the revenue de-earmarking provided for in the Constitution. It received R$ 514.1 million in the half-year. De-earmarking is legitimate; the report's finding is that the sector's public accountability document splits the allocation into nine slices adding up to 100% and does not include this line.
Why are there two different totals in the report?
Because they are two official spreadsheets with different bases, and they are never added together. The half-year total comes from the Federal Revenue Service series, which is complete. The breakdown comes from the Treasury extract, whose 03/07/2026 pull had not yet closed June. Health's share is the same on both bases, because the split runs on fixed percentages.
Does the report accuse any body of irregularity?
No. Every divergence pointed out is between official documents and is recorded as an open question, because the calculation base was not published. Revenue de-earmarking is constitutional.