Work Leaves for Gambling Addiction Hit Record in 2026 and Already Exceed All of Last Year
INSS granted 377 benefits for gambling disorder through August; experts say the real number is higher because of underreporting.
Translated from the Portuguese original by the Panorama newsroom. Read in Portuguese
Summary written by the Panorama newsroom from the sources listed below. Facts are attributed to the original publications.
Work leaves for ludopathy, or gambling addiction, reached a record level in 2026. According to an exclusive g1 analysis of Social Security data, the INSS granted 377 benefits through August, compared with 312 in all of 2025.
The surge follows the arrival of online betting, legalized in the country in 2018. Until 2022, leaves ran at around ten a year. Since June 2023, the cost to Social Security has reached at least R$ 4.8 million, R$ 1.9 million of it this year alone.
Spending on benefits in June this year was six times higher than in 2023, according to the analysis.
The Social Security Ministry admits the data are underreported. The tally includes only INSS contributors on leave for more than 15 days and counts only ICD code F63.0, pathological gambling, although many bettors develop severe anxiety and depression, classified under other codes.
Psychiatrists interviewed by g1 explain that gambling dependence works in the brain in a similar way to alcohol and drug dependence, but is harder to overcome because the cell phone keeps betting available all the time.