Brazil Asks Top Court on 5 October to Keep Betting Ban

Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court in Brasília, where Justice Luiz Fux is weighing challenges to the online betting ban. File photo, 2025. (Photo: Agência Senado, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

BRAZIL · ONLINE BETTING

Brazil’s government has asked the Supreme Court to keep its online betting ban in force, a fight with money at stake for US investors. Flutter, the New York-listed owner of FanDuel, has already stopped operating in Brazil, where it ran the Betnacional brand.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGU), the government’s legal arm, filed its reply to Justice Luiz Fux late on Monday 5 October. Less than two hours later, licensed betting sites and apps across Brazil went offline.

What the Government Asked the Supreme Court

The reply reached the court at 22:10 Brasília time, the court’s docket shows. Fux, one of 11 justices, had given the AGU 72 hours to answer on Friday 2 October.

Jorge Messias, the Attorney General who leads the AGU, asked Fux to keep the betting ban whole. He opposed exempting licensed firms or giving them a wind-down period of at least six months.

He also asked the judge to hear Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet within 72 hours before deciding, O Tempo reported. Gonet heads the PGR, the independent federal prosecution service.

The AGU also proposed a new public hearing with researchers, officials and the industry. Messias wrote that public bodies had “identified signs of significant repercussions” on family budgets, debt and health, Diário do Centro do Mundo reported.

The AGU argues that the federal government has the constitutional power to create, change or abolish types of lottery, Focus Gaming News reported.

What the Betting Ban Covers

Provisional Measure 1,394, signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on 25 September, bans running, offering, brokering and advertising fixed-odds bets. Such a measure is a presidential decree with immediate force of law.

It covers sports bets and online casino-style games, including those offered from abroad, but not traditional lotteries. Licences end after 30 days, with no refund of fees and no compensation.

Lula, of the left-wing Workers’ Party (PT), signed it nine days before the first round of the presidential election. He faces conservative senator Flávio Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party (PL), in a runoff on 25 October.

On Monday, bettors still held R$1.33 billion (about US$265 million, at 5.02 reais per US dollar on 6 October 2026), Focus Gaming News reported. Under the Finance Ministry’s timetable, banks return it from 9 to 14 October, with state bank Caixa as backstop from 14 October.

Brazil’s National Congress in Brasília, which has 120 days to confirm or reject the betting ban. File photo, 2024. (Photo: Agência Senado, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Who Is Fighting the Ban

Fux handles six challenges, three against Brazil’s betting laws and three against the ban, BNLData reported. The AGU’s reply went into ADI 7721, a 2024 constitutional case brought by the National Confederation of Commerce (CNC), an employers’ body.

Industry groups ANJL (National Association of Games and Lotteries) and IBJR (Brazilian Institute for Responsible Gaming), which represent licensed operators, joined that case. Their request to Fux seeks to freeze the betting ban until Congress votes or the court rules on the merits.

They argue the ban breaks faith with firms that paid for fixed-term licences and could push bettors to illegal sites, Focus Gaming News reported. Fux admitted Flamengo, the Rio de Janeiro football club, as a friend of the court on 30 September.

On Tuesday 6 October the two groups answered with an urgent petition, BNLData reported. They asked Fux to suspend the ban until the hearing the AGU proposed, or to let licensed firms operate until 31 December.

Atlético Mineiro played its last match with betting sponsor H2Bet on Saturday 3 October, Focus Gaming News reported. The club ended a deal that could have paid it more than R$200 million (about US$40 million) through 2027.

How Big Brazil’s Betting Market Was

Brazil opened a regulated, taxed betting market only on 1 January 2025. In that first year, licensed operators took R$37 billion (about US$7.4 billion) in gross gaming revenue, Finance Ministry data show.

That is the money they kept after paying out prizes. The ministry’s betting secretariat (SPA) counted 25.2 million people who placed bets in 2025.

The AGU cites a 140% rise from 2018 to 2025 in gambling-addiction records at SUS, the public health system. Its filing concedes the figure does not count individual patients or separate out betting cases, BNLData noted.

It also cites a CNC study: betting-linked defaults and diverted spending cost retailers about R$143 billion (about US$28.5 billion) from January 2023 to March 2026.

The AGU has also changed course on the betting laws themselves. On 2 October it asked the court to strike them down in ADI 7749, a challenge brought by the Prosecutor-General.

In November 2024 Messias told the court Brazil faced a dragon and the challenge was to tame it, BNLData reported. His reply to Fux, O Tempo reported, answers: “The ‘dragon’ was untameable.”

What It Means for You

For US investors, the clearest exposure is Flutter, which owns FanDuel and trades on the New York Stock Exchange. Its 28 September release, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, says it “has ceased operating sports betting and iGaming in Brazil”.

If Brazil stays shut through 2026, Flutter expects about US$70 million less revenue and US$20 million less adjusted EBITDA, a profit measure. Meridian Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed betting group, says Brazil is immaterial to its revenue.

For visitors, Brazilian betting sites and apps no longer work, and their advertising is banned. Withdrawals closed at 23:59 Brasília time on Monday 5 October, the deadline set under the betting ban.

What Is Not Known

Fux had not ruled by the afternoon of Tuesday 6 October, the docket shows. He can rule alone, take the case to the full court or call a conciliation hearing, BNLData noted.

Congress must confirm the measure within 120 days, a clock that pauses during its recesses, or it lapses; it has not voted. How many bettors will move to illegal offshore sites is unknown.

More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is online betting illegal in Brazil now?

Yes. A betting ban in force since 25 September covers fixed-odds sports betting and online casino games, and licensed sites went offline on 6 October. Traditional lotteries remain legal.

What did Brazil’s government ask the Supreme Court?

To keep the betting ban, reject requests to suspend or delay it, and hear the Prosecutor-General first. It also proposed a new public hearing.

Can the ban still be reversed?

Yes. Fux or the full Supreme Court could suspend it, and Congress must confirm it within 120 days, not counting recesses, or it lapses.

Which US-listed companies are affected?

Flutter, owner of FanDuel, stopped operating in Brazil, where it ran Betnacional, and expects about US$70 million less 2026 revenue if the ban holds. Meridian Holdings says Brazil is immaterial to its revenue.

Sources: Supreme Federal Court (STF), ADI 7721 docket, 6 October 2026; STF, ADI 7749 docket, 6 October 2026; Presidency of Brazil, Provisional Measure 1,394, 25 September 2026; Ministry of Finance, betting withdrawal and refund timetable, 5 October 2026; Ministry of Finance, Secretariat of Prizes and Bets, Panorama Semestral 2025, January 2026; Flutter Entertainment, Exhibit 99.1 (SEC), 28 September 2026; Meridian Holdings, Exhibit 99.1 (SEC), 29 September 2026; Metrópoles, 6 October 2026; O Tempo, 6 October 2026; Focus Gaming News, 6 October 2026; Focus Gaming News, 6 October 2026; Focus Gaming News, 6 October 2026; BNLData, 6 October 2026; BNLData, 5 October 2026; Diário do Centro do Mundo, 6 October 2026; BNLData, 6 October 2026; BNLData, 6 October 2026.

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