Brazil's betting ban hearing ends with no court decision

Last updated: 4 Nov 2026, 08:01 CET: first published

The Supreme Federal Court (STF) hearing on Brazil's betting ban ended on the evening of 3 November without a decision. Nothing changes for players: MP 1.394/2026, which bans fixed-odds betting, stays in force, no injunction was granted, and no date for a ruling has been announced.

Justice Luiz Fux, the rapporteur, ran the public hearing in the Second Panel's session room. According to Migalhas, it began at 10:00 and closed at 20:00 Brasília time (14:00 to 00:00 CET), and Fux said more than once that it was informational and involved no decisions. At the close, Migalhas reports, he said the material presented would be shared with the other justices to support their analysis of the cases.

What the court is looking at

The STF's release names two groups of cases. ADIs 7721, 7723 and 7749 challenge parts of Law 14.790/2023, the law that regulated betting. ADIs 8024, 8027, 8028 and 8035 were filed after MP 1.394/2026. Fux said the material from the court's first betting hearing, in November 2024, will be considered, and that new points now include legal certainty, non-retroactivity, the protection of legitimate expectations and the constitutional requirements of relevance and urgency for a provisional measure.

ADI 8027, brought by the operators' association ANJL, asks for the MP to be suspended immediately and, on the merits, declared unconstitutional, according to the Attorney General's Office (AGU).

What the government argued

Advocate-General Jorge Messias defended the MP as constitutional. The AGU says the hearing was held at its request, and that each participating body had 10 minutes. Messias argued that the earlier betting framework (Laws 13.756/2018 and 14.790/2023) had become unconstitutional in substance because it did not protect public health, human dignity and public security well enough. He cited preliminary Finance Ministry data that federally authorised betting sites received R$ 220.6 billion in deposits in 2025, which he said equals R$ 36.9 billion in revenue for the operators, and a Datafolha poll of 1 October in which 78% supported banning betting and online casinos. He also asked Fux to consider a further public hearing with civil-society groups. That is a request, not a scheduled event.

Fux's own remarks

At the opening, according to the STF's release, Fux recalled his earlier vote on Brazil's 1941 gambling law and said: "The exploitation of gambling is an activity that draws its profit from people's inability to understand; they are unwitting protagonists of their own drama" (our translation). Migalhas reports that, at the opening of the hearing, he also said: "I have become convinced that gambling addiction is a public health problem, an economic problem, and that it should be banned from national sport" (our translation), and reports that he restated his opposition to the exploitation of games of chance.

These are one justice's views, given at a hearing he described as informational. They are not a ruling, and the court has not voted.

What it means for players in Brazil

• The ban: MP 1.394 remains in force. Nothing was suspended on 3 November.
• A ruling: none was made, and none of the sources we read gives a date for one.
• Balances and refunds: the hearing did not deal with individual accounts. See the court order on seven operators' refund balances, what the 25 October licence cut-off means for accounts and fees and the warning about a fake refund site.

We are not predicting the outcome. For background, see our preview of the hearing, how Lula's re-election affects the ban and Flutter's changes in Brazil after the MP. More news is in the news hub.

What is still unclear

• When the STF will rule on the injunction request or the merits.
• Whether Fux will call the further hearing the AGU asked for.
• How Congress will handle the MP. Congress's page for MPV 1394/2026 shows the deliberation period running from 25 September to 23 November 2026, an urgency regime from 9 November, and the joint committee still awaiting installation (as read on 4 November).

18+. If gambling stops feeling like entertainment, use the limits and self-exclusion tools available where you play and local support services.

Updates

• 4 Nov 2026: first published.