STF freezes lower-court challenges to Brazil's betting ban

Last updated: 9 Nov 2026, 19:57 CET

**Justice Luiz Fux of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) has ordered a nationwide suspension of every ordinary-court case that discusses the constitutionality of provisional measure (MP) 1.394/2026, the measure that banned fixed-odds betting. The decision, issued in Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) 8.027 and signed in Brasília on 8 November, lasts until the STF rules definitively in ADIs 8.024, 8.027, 8.028 and 8.035. It is already in force and will go to the Plenary for ratification (*ad referendum*).**

The order grants a request the Prosecutor General of the Republic (PGR) filed on 6 November. According to the decision text, the PGR asked for a national stay of proceedings that question the MP's constitutionality, pointing to conflicting interim relief in the lower courts while the same question was already before the STF in the four ADIs.

What the stay does

In the signed decision, Fux "DEFIRO" (grants) the PGR's request and determines the suspension of all judicial proceedings then running in the ordinary courts that discuss the constitutionality of MP 1.394/2026, until the STF's definitive judgment in the four ADIs, *ad referendum* of the Plenary. The STF's own news note of 9 November says the decision "já está valendo" (is already in force) and will be submitted to the Plenary for ratification.

The stay does not decide whether the MP is constitutional. That question remains for the STF's definitive ruling.

Why Fux acted

The STF summary and the decision cite the risk of conflicting judgments and legal uncertainty. Fux also wrote of the aggravating factor of a potential release of an activity "reconhecidamente danosa e de elevado risco social" (recognised as harmful and of high social risk) — fixed-odds betting — referring to his remarks at the 3 November public hearing and his 6 August 2026 vote in RE 966.177/RS. The legal bases he cites include article 21 of Law 9.868/1999 and, by analogy, article 5 §1 of Law 9.882/1999, together with the court's internal rules for urgent single-judge relief.

The PGR petition, as quoted in the decision, named among other cases the 8 October São Paulo federal-court injunction that let Stake Brazil keep operating until 25 October (proc. 5030862-66.2026.4.03.6100) and the 3 November single-judge TRF3 order in Agravo de Instrumento 5034200-15.2026.4.03.0000 that suspended the MP for CDA Gaming. Those interim restorations had already been suspended by the TRF3 presidency; see the Stake suspension and the CDA Gaming suspension. Fux's order means further constitutionality challenges of this kind cannot proceed in the ordinary courts until the STF rules.

How many cases, according to Yogonet

According to Yogonet, the order affects 19 lawsuits — 14 in the TRF3 area and five in the TRF1 area. That count is Yogonet's, not the STF's. The STF news item and the signed decision do not state a total of 19.

For related coverage, see the STF hearing that ended without a decision, ANJL's STF challenge, the 97 amendments in Congress and the SPA's 47,000 blocked-sites tally.

Updates

• 9 Nov 2026: first published.