Justice Luiz Fux has suspended every ordinary-court case against Provisional Measure 1,394. Operators cannot win reopening orders while the full court and Congress decide the ban’s future.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) has frozen every lower-court case challenging the government’s ban on fixed-odds betting. Operators can no longer win temporary relief from individual judges while the constitutional question is pending. Justice Luiz Fux signed the order on Sunday 8 November 2026, granting a request from the country’s Prosecutor General. The stay lasts until the full court rules on four constitutional challenges to the ban.
The decision closes, for now, the route that had briefly allowed some betting brands back online. It leaves the market shut while the STF and Congress decide what happens to Provisional Measure (MP) 1,394/2026.
Context: a ban by provisional measure
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed MP 1,394 on 25 September 2026. It banned fixed-odds betting, known in Brazil as “bets”, including for companies that held federal authorisations under the country’s existing betting regulation. BBC News Brasil noted that the measure was signed on the eve of the first round of the presidential election.
A provisional measure takes effect immediately but must be approved by Congress to become permanent law. According to BBC News Brasil, Congress has until March 2027 to decide whether to keep or overturn it. Valor Econômico describes the general rule as an initial 60 days, automatically extendable by another 60, after which an unapproved measure lapses. Casino People has not independently confirmed the exact final deadline for MP 1,394 from congressional records.
The measure gave licensed operators a short window to close. Football club representatives at an STF public hearing criticised what BBC News Brasil described as a ten-day closure deadline. SBC News, reporting on supplier Playtech’s trading update, said licensed operators had until 5 October to close their platforms.
What the court decided
The order was issued in ADI 8027, one of four direct actions of unconstitutionality (ADIs 8024, 8027, 8028 and 8035) against the measure. Fux is the reporting justice. The Prosecutor General, Paulo Gonet, filed the request on 6 November. He argued that lower courts had granted urgent relief in individual cases that suspended the measure’s effects, creating a risk of conflicting rulings.
Fux’s decision lists two such cases. On 8 October, the Federal Court in São Paulo granted an injunction allowing Stake Brazil to keep operating until 25 October. On 3 November, a single judge at the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF-3) suspended the measure’s effects for the CDA Gaming group, allowing its Casa de Apostas, Betsul and Jogo Online platforms to operate. BBC News Brasil reported that the president of TRF-3 later suspended that ruling at the federal government’s request, extending an earlier decision against Stake.
Fux ordered the suspension of “all” ongoing proceedings in the ordinary courts that discuss the constitutionality of MP 1,394 until the STF reaches a final decision in the four ADIs. In his reasoning he pointed to the “risk of legal uncertainty” from divergent decisions. He also cited the “potential release of an activity recognised as harmful and of high social risk”, referring to fixed-odds betting (Casino People’s translation from the Portuguese).
The STF’s own news service says the order is already in force but will be submitted to the full court (the Plenário) for confirmation. No date has been set for the court to rule on the merits, according to BBC News Brasil.
The arguments on both sides
The lower-court rulings that Fux suspended show the operators’ main legal argument. In the CDA Gaming appeal, as reported by BBC News Brasil, the company said it had paid R$30 million for a federal authorisation valid until December 2029. The appellate judge who sided with it described closing authorised companies without refund or compensation as a “true confiscation”. She also noted that the measure sets a daily fine of R$200,000 for non-compliance.
The government’s case, accepted by the TRF-3 president, is that individual exemptions would undermine a uniform national public policy and encourage more litigation. Fux has made his own view of betting clear. At a public hearing on 3 November, BBC News Brasil quoted him saying he had become convinced that problem gambling is a public-health and economic problem. He also said the government’s measure raised questions the court must consider, including the legal certainty of contracts and the economic impact of the ban.
Who is affected
Operators that held Brazilian licences are the most directly affected, and the effect is already showing in company accounts. On 4 November, Flutter Entertainment reported a non-cash impairment of $873 million on its Brazilian business in its third-quarter results, according to Gambling Insider’s report of the earnings release.
Suppliers are also affected. In a trading update on 10 November, London-listed Playtech said it expects to absorb the three-month impact on its 2026 adjusted EBITDA, but expects “a more significant impact” in 2027 “should the existing market shutdown not be lifted”.
Football is another affected party. At the 3 November hearing, club representatives said the ban had wiped out revenue they had budgeted on the basis of the previous regulation, and a lawyer for the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said the ban significantly affects how the sport is financed, according to BBC News Brasil.
For players, there is no longer a legal fixed-odds betting market in Brazil while the measure stands. One risk is that demand moves to unlicensed offshore sites. That issue was on the agenda in Brasília: one of the STF’s own news items on the 3 November hearing covered authorities and experts discussing health risks and the growth of the illegal market.
What happens next
Three decisions will determine the outcome. The full STF must confirm Fux’s stay. It must also decide the four ADIs on the merits; BBC News Brasil reports the court is examining eight actions against the ban and four against the law that regulated the sector. Separately, Congress must decide whether to convert MP 1,394 into law, amend it or let it lapse.
Until then, the stay means operators cannot seek relief in the lower courts. Any route back to market now goes through the Supreme Court or Congress.
Sources
- https://noticias.stf.jus.br/postsnoticias/stf-suspende-processos-que-questionam-constitucionalidade-de-mp-das-bets/
- https://next.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Luiz-Fux-Decision.pdf
- https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/articles/c6n8d8x9ee17o
- https://valor.globo.com/brasil/noticia/2026/11/09/fux-atende-pgr-e-suspende-processos-de-bets-que-discutem-constitucionalidade-de-proibicao.ghtml
- https://igamingbusiness.com/legal-compliance/brazil-supreme-court-justice-halts-lawsuits-betting-ban/
- https://www.gamblinginsider.com/news/201816/flutter-q3-2026-results-fanduel-ebitda-falls-guidance-cut
- https://www.tradingview.com/news/reuters.com,2026-11-10:newsml_RSJ4329Ca:0-reg-playtech-plc-trading-update/
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