Brazil keeps the documents behind its iGaming ban sealed for five years

Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP) has restricted access to the documents used to prepare the temporary measure that banned betting for five years. The detail matters for high-risk operators because the same papers may have been used to justify the policy that is now driving compensation claims and court fights.

1. The decision was signed on 24 September, but it only became public now. According to the ministry, the documents remain classified for five years because they involve risks to “life, security or public health” and to financial, economic and monetary stability.
2. The presidential office under Lula also refused to release the legal opinions on the ban’s legality, citing attorney-client privilege, which has no expiration date. Lawyers quoted in the report say it is still unclear whether the sealed files are empty or simply closed off from access.
3. The practical effect is straightforward: operators cannot inspect the government’s calculations if the documents stay under wraps. That weakens their ability to use those materials in compensation lawsuits.
4. Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office (AGU) has already rejected operators’ requests for compensation for the cost of paid five-year licences. The total is around $467 million, and the companies now plan to go to court.
5. According to Folha de S.Paulo, the government expects the Supreme Court to rule on its own that the 2018 law legalising betting is unconstitutional, which would help it avoid a legislative fight over the ban’s legality. The report also says the Lula administration plans to clear the country of iGaming over the new four-year term, with offshore operators, former licensees and even political rivals linked to gambling all in scope.