Brazilian court lets Stake keep operating until 25 October despite the betting ban

A federal judge in São Paulo has ruled that Stake Brazil may keep operating its betting site until 25 October 2026, even though Brazil's betting ban took effect on 6 October. Judge Cristiane Farias Rodrigues dos Santos of the 9th Federal Civil Court of São Paulo (9ª Vara Cível Federal de São Paulo) granted the preliminary injunction (*liminar*) on 8 October. It is temporary, it applies to Stake alone, and it does not suspend Provisional Measure (MP) 1.394/2026, the government order that bans fixed-odds betting and online casinos. The court can revisit it before 25 October.

What the court decided

The MP set two deadlines. Betting platforms had to go offline within ten days, by 6 October. Existing authorisations are extinguished after 30 days, on 25 October. The Ministry of Justice had ordered stake.bet.br redirected from 6 October, almost three weeks before the second deadline, according to Exame.

Stake challenged that gap with a *mandado de segurança*, a legal action against an act of a public authority. Its main request was to keep its authorisation until 31 December 2029, the end of its original term. The judge refused. She partly granted Stake's fallback request instead: its authorisation is preserved until 25 October, and the site may not be blocked or redirected before then on the sole ground that the end of the authorisation was brought forward, as G1 summarises the order.

"The administration cannot, without specific grounds and without regard for regulatory consistency, bring the extinguishing effects forward in full to a date before the deadline set in the measure itself," the judge wrote, as quoted by UOL. The temporary preservation, she added, is "neither the grant of a new right nor a final finding that the provisional measure is invalid." (Translated from Portuguese.)

Stake's permit is an authorisation (*autorização*), the type of permit Brazil granted to regulated betting operators. It was granted in 2025. Stake says it paid a R$30 million authorisation fee, which the MP does not refund, and the judge cited that fee in her reasoning, according to UOL.

The conditions

The order comes with conditions, as reported by G1 and Exame. Until 25 October, Stake must:

• keep identity checks, age verification, anti-money-laundering controls and responsible-gambling tools, including self-exclusion, breaks and deposit, loss and session limits;
• keep withdrawals possible and preserve the balances available for withdrawal.

It may not:

• launch new promotional campaigns or offer bonuses to attract users, or take other steps to artificially enlarge its player base;
• accept bets from people barred by law or by government programmes, or bets funded by social and welfare programme money;
• advertise to children and teenagers;
• operate through domains, apps, brands or structures outside its original authorisation.

Before a final decision, the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) at the Ministry of Finance, the telecoms regulator Anatel and the Central Bank must send information to the court.

What it does not do

The ruling does not suspend the MP and does not declare it unconstitutional. It does not guarantee that Stake can operate after 25 October, and it gives no relief to any other operator. Exame describes it as the first ruling in favour of a betting operator since the MP was issued.

It may not last until 25 October either. The Attorney General's Office (AGU), which represents the federal government in court, said it will appeal, UOL reports.

The bigger case sits with the Supreme Federal Court (STF). Justice Luiz Fux is handling the challenges brought by the betting association ANJL and by operators against the MP. So far he has only asked the AGU for its position. According to UOL, Fux is considering acting on the requests only after the election run-off. For background, see our report on the ANJL challenge to MP 1.394.

What it means for players

If you have a Stake account in Brazil, the site can stay reachable for now, and the order says withdrawals must remain possible. There are no new bonuses or promotions. After 25 October nothing is guaranteed, and an appeal could change the picture sooner. Stake told the court it had more than 649,000 registered users, about 224,000 of them with a balance when the MP was issued, according to Exame.

The rest of the market is still offline. For how balances at the other operators are being returned, see our refunds explainer.

18+. If gambling has stopped feeling like a pastime, see responsible play.