Brazil AGU challenges betting laws at Supreme Federal Court, citing 140% rise in SUS care for gambling addiction

Brazil’s betting regime has picked up another constitutional problem. The Attorney General’s Office (AGU) has asked the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to strike down the laws that underpin the market, which matters immediately for operators, PSPs, and acquirers trying to understand whether the legal framework can hold.

1. On Friday, the AGU argued that laws 13.756 of 2018 and 14.790 of 2023 are unconstitutional. In a statement sent to the STF, it asked the court to declare both laws incompatible with Brazil’s Constitution.
2. The AGU said the rules do not provide sufficient protection and fail to create mechanisms against damage to public health, the family and the economic order. It also said the framework contains “an exploratory leniency” that cannot be reconciled with the protection of fundamental rights such as human dignity, public health and the minimum subsistence level.
3. As part of its request, the AGU cited harmful effects it links to gambling, including family debt, lack of protection for children and adolescents, and impacts on the formal economy. It also pointed to a 140% increase in care provided by the Unified Health System (SUS) to people with disorders caused by gambling addiction.
4. Separately, Minister Luiz Fux, rapporteur for the matter at the STF, asked the government for information about the provisional measure that banned betting in Brazil, issued by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on 25 September. On Friday, Fux gave the AGU 72 hours to comment on the matter.
5. The AGU had itself requested 72 hours to respond after the first lawsuit was filed. It then filed a new lawsuit with the STF, changing some points of its argument and obtaining the initial time it wanted, with a further 72 hours now in hand.