Brazil government contradicts itself over betting MP as Sports Ministry says it was not formally consulted

A request under Brazil’s Access to Information Law (LAI) has exposed a clean little contradiction: the Ministry of Sports publicly backed the provisional measure that banned fixed-odds betting in Brazil, but its official LAI response says the Planalto did not formally consult the ministry before issuing it. For high-risk operators, the important part is not the politics; it is that a rule change affecting a funded vertical can move without the sector ministry being on record as consulted.

1. The disclosure came from the Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL), which used the LAI to ask whether the Ministry of Sports had been consulted about the impact of banning fixed-odds betting on the fight against match-fixing in sport. The official answer was no: there is no registered formal consultation.
2. The ministry later told Folha de S.Paulo that Minister Paulo Henrique Cordeiro had participated in interministerial meetings coordinated by the Casa Civil, where the government discussed the effects of fixed-odds betting in the country. In its note, the ministry said Cordeiro “followed the discussion process” that led to Medida Provisória nº 1.394, of 25 September 2026, and supports the government’s initiative.
3. The same ministry also said Cordeiro attended a public hearing at the end of September, where civil society representatives discussed the effects of betting, and later appeared in São Paulo with the president at the launch ceremony for the measure. So on paper the ministry was present; in the LAI record, it was not formally consulted. That distinction matters when companies are assessing how durable the policy process really is.
4. ANJL argues that regulated betting had been a source of financing for Brazilian sport, with funds going to sports entities, committees, and athlete development, including youth categories. Citing data from the Escritório Nacional de Rateio, the association says R$ 235,3 million was transferred in 2026 to the Sistema Nacional do Esporte, sports committees, and civil society organisations from betting revenue.
5. The Supreme Federal Court (STF) is reviewing the constitutionality of the provisional measure that suspended online betting companies. Football clubs have also gone before the court, saying the ban will cause multimillion-losses in sponsorship revenue from companies in the sector. For PSPs and acquirers, that means the legal status of the vertical is still in motion, and the commercial impact is not limited to operators alone.