Brazil Supreme Court Sets Public Hearing on Fixed-Odds Betting Ban

Justice Luiz Fux of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has scheduled a public hearing for November 3, 2026, to discuss the impacts of Provisional Measure 1,394/2026, the measure that banned fixed-odds betting, known in Brazil as “bets,” and ordered the termination of authorizations granted to companies in the sector. The court announced the hearing on October 27, 2026.

The Constitutional Challenge

The hearing was designated within Direct Action of Unconstitutionality 8027, filed by the National Association of Games and Lotteries. The meeting was requested by the association itself, by the Attorney General’s Office and by amici curiae participating in the case.

In the action, the ANJL contests the provisional measure on the grounds that its provisions are unconstitutional. The association asks for the immediate suspension of the norm and, ultimately, a declaration of unconstitutionality, and it also requests that the court recognize the constitutionality of the laws that regulate this betting modality in the country.

The AGU had asked the rapporteur to assess the possibility of holding a new public hearing. In its submission, the office argued that the experience accumulated since the court’s previous hearing on betting, held in November 2024, the new evidence on the impacts of betting and the issuance of the provisional measure justify updating the debate. The AGU proposed that the meeting bring together different perspectives, with the participation of public bodies, researchers, consumer-defense entities, civil-society representatives, affected economic sectors and the betting market.

Fux granted the requests in a signed order dated Brasília, October 26, 2026, issued in the precautionary-measure proceeding within ADI 8027. The order directs that copies be joined to the records of related direct actions of unconstitutionality before the court, numbered 7721, 7723, 7749, 8024, 8028 and 8035.

Twenty-Six Institutions Summoned

The order lists 26 institutions and entities to take part in the hearing. Those summoned as petitioners of the related actions are the National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism, petitioner of ADI 7721; the Prosecutor-General of the Republic, petitioner of ADI 7749; the National Association for the Legal Security of Games and Betting, petitioner of ADI 8024; the ANJL and the Brazilian Institute for Responsible Gaming, both petitioners of ADI 8027; the National Association of Mayors and Vice-Mayors, petitioner of ADI 8028; and Abracopel, the Brazilian association of state lottery concessionaires and permit holders, petitioner of ADI 8035.

The list also includes the Attorney General of the Union, the Ministry of Finance, the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters, the Brazilian Association of Criminal Lawyers (ABRACRIM), the Economic Regulation Laboratory of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ Reg), the National Confederation of Industry, the Brazilian Association of Economic Freedom and the International Gaming Association (AIGAMING).

Football clubs complete the list: Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo, Cruzeiro, São Paulo, Corinthians, Ponte Preta, Vitória, Guarani and Portuguesa, alongside the Brazilian Football Confederation. The order identifies Botafogo’s football corporation and Guarani as being in judicial reorganization, Brazil’s court-supervised debt-restructuring proceeding.

The Ban and the Court’s Earlier Hearing

Provisional Measure 1,394/2026, signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on September 25, 2026 and in force from its publication, prohibits the exploitation, offering, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting lotteries throughout the national territory, in physical or virtual form, including by agents based abroad who offer bets to persons located in Brazil. The prohibition covers wagers on real sporting events and on online games, and does not apply to other lottery modalities authorized by law. The measure extinguished the concessions, permissions and authorizations granted under Law 14,790/2023 thirty days after publication, without refund of the grant fee or indemnification, barred new authorizations, required operators to take betting sites and applications offline within ten days under penalty of blocking, and created an interinstitutional committee, coordinated by the Civil House of the Presidency, to oversee enforcement against illegal betting exploitation and advertising.

The court has examined the sector at a public hearing once before. On November 11 and 12, 2024, Fux, acting as rapporteur of ADI 7721, convened a two-day public hearing in that action, in which the CNC seeks the invalidation of Law 14,790/2023, the statute known as the “Bets Law” under which the extinguished authorizations had been granted. The 2024 hearing addressed mental health, the neurological impacts of betting, the economic effects of the practice for commerce and for household finances, and the social consequences of the regulatory framework, with more than 30 representatives of public bodies, civil-society organizations and academia speaking on the first day and 13 further expositors scheduled for the second. That hearing was held in the session room of the court’s First Chamber, with live coverage on TV Justiça, Rádio Justiça and the court’s YouTube channel.

Fux’s order schedules the hearing for 10:00 on November 3, 2026, in the session room of the court’s Second Chamber.