According to ABMES study, disbursed values vary according to social class: while class A gamblers intend, on average, $ 1,210 monthly to bets, in classes D and E and the average value is $ 421
Young people with online bets have affected entry and permanence in college, shows research. Expenses with them were the reason that 14% of students enrolled in private institutions have already delayed the monthly fees or locked the course. Among the interviewees, one in three (34%) states that he would need to have interrupted the bets to start studies in the first half of 2025. The data are from the research “The impact of Bets on Higher Education”, conducted by the Brazilian Association of Higher Education Maintainers (ABMES), an entity that represents private faculties, and education insights. In total, there were 2,317 answers in March 2025 of young people from 18 to 35 years of all social classes and regions of Brazil. The values disbursed vary according to the social class: while class A gamblers intend, on average, $ 1,210 monthly to bets, in classes D and E and the average value is $ 421.
Most reports compromise up to 5% of monthly income. But the number of people has grown, especially among the poorest, that exceed 10% of the budget with bets. As they answered the question if they had already bet online, most of them (87%) of the young interviewees in the class replied that yes. The percentage of those who never bet is only 13%. Already in classes D and E, the division is more proportional: 57% have bet on some online platform, even once in a lifetime, and 43% never bet. In a regional cut, the survey found that Northeast and Southeast are the regions with the largest proportion of Brazilians who associate graduation from graduation with online bets. Compared to the first half of 2025, percentages are 44% in the Northeast and 41% in the Southeast. In the opposite direction, the South and Midwest regions have the people who least make this relationship: 17% in the south and 18% in the Midwest say they would have to interrupt their bets to study in the first half of this year. For the first half of 2026, the projection indicates that of the nearly 2.9 million potential entries in private higher education, 34% (986 thousand people) are at risk of not enrolling due to financial commitment to BETS.
The profile of the gamblers is mostly formed by men aged 26 to 35 years, workers, with children, belonging to classes C and D and who attended high school in public schools. Also according to the survey, more than half (52%) of respondents bet regularly, being the predominant frequency one to three times a week. The proportion has grown since the last edition of the survey, done in September 2024, when 42.9% of young people frequently bet. “The study shows that online bets have become an additional obstacle for access to higher education in Brazil,” says Paulo Chanan, director general of ABMES. “We need to look seriously at this scenario and develop public policies that make young people aware of the responsibilities involved in betting,” he adds. According to him, the phenomenon is relatively new in Brazil and still “lacks maturity and greater understanding of the responsibilities involved by both the government and the gamblers.”
Posted by Luisa Cardoso
*With information from Estadão Content
