- Justice Luiz Fux will hear from the industry and the government next Tuesday instead of ruling right away.
- Lula’s win in the runoff keeps the government that signed the ban in office.
- Congress faces a Nov. 9 urgency trigger and a Nov. 23 deadline on the measure, but the ban could run into 2027.
BRASILIA, Brazil – Brazil’s licensed sportsbooks get their day before the Supreme Federal Court next Tuesday, more than a month after the government switched them off.
Justice Luiz Fux, who is handling the challenges, will hear from the industry and the government at 10 a.m. Nov. 3 before deciding whether to pause the ban. Trade groups ANJL and IBJR brought the main case and want the 2023 betting law restored or, failing that, a grace period for licensed operators.
Fux issued the hearing order on Oct. 26, a day after the measure’s deadline for cancelling licenses passed. The guest list runs to about two dozen parties, from the government’s legal office and the finance ministry to the soccer federation CBF and 10 clubs.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva‘s order, Provisional Measure 1.394, took effect Sept. 25. It outlawed fixed-odds sports wagering and online casino play nationwide and stripped 85 operators of permits worth 30 million reais each. Brazilian bettors lost access on Oct. 6, not quite two years after legal sports betting went live in the country.
The election didn’t change that.
Lula held off Flávio Bolsonaro in the Oct. 25 runoff with about 52% of the vote after promising during the campaign that betting wouldn’t come back. Bolsonaro had suggested allowing sports wagers but not online casinos, which is close to where many lawmakers have landed. For now, Brazil sports betting has no licensed market at all.
Three Ways Out
The industry’s options come down to the court, Congress or the calendar:
- A ruling from Fux. There’s no deadline for him to act, and if he lifts the ban by himself, the rest of the court must sign off, typically in an online session that takes around a week. He may be a tough sell. In an August case, he voted that operating games of chance should stay a crime, citing the toll on gamblers’ money and mental well-being.
- A deal in Congress. Lawmakers still haven’t formed the joint panel that reviews the measure, according to Congress’ tracking page. Of the 90-plus amendments lawmakers have filed, most would revive sports betting while leaving online casinos off-limits. On Nov. 9, the measure goes into urgency mode and starts holding up other business in the chamber that has it.
- A long wait. The 60-day clock runs out Nov. 23 but resets once automatically, and Congress’ holiday break doesn’t count, which could keep the ban alive into March 2027.
A lapse wouldn’t revive the licenses, either. Whatever was done under a provisional measure stands unless lawmakers write rules addressing it within two months.
Lower courts have mostly stepped aside. On Oct. 9, a federal appeals court in São Paulo threw out the lone injunction any operator had secured, and judges in Brasília have since frozen a trade group’s collective case until the Supreme Court acts. Bettors with money left on the shuttered sites were supposed to get it back through their banks by mid-October.
