Brazil’s Anseja and ANJL challenge MP 1.394/2026 in the STF over the ban on fixed-odds betting

Two industry associations have taken Brazil’s new provisional measure on bets to the Supreme Federal Court (STF), arguing that it was issued without the urgency the Constitution requires and that it reaches into territory that should not be regulated by provisional measure. For PSPs and operators, the practical issue is simple: the MP targets both the legal basis for operations and the timeline for takedown, including site access and authorizations.

1. The Associação Nacional pela Segurança Jurídica dos Jogos e Apostas (Anseja) filed Ação Direta de Inconstitucionalidade (ADI) 8024 against the provisional measure published last Friday (25), which bans the operation, offering, intermediation, and advertising of fixed-odds betting, or bets. Anseja asked the STF to suspend the MP in full and to assign the case by prevention to Justice Luiz Fux, who is already rapporteur in other cases on Brazil’s betting framework.
2. According to the MP 1.394/2026, federal, state, and district authorizations would be extinguished, and operators would have no right to a refund of the license fee or to compensation. Anseja argues that the measure was issued without the constitutional urgency requirement, that it addresses matters outside the scope of a provisional measure, and that it violates legal certainty, free enterprise, and the federal pact. The group also says there was no estimate of budgetary and financial impact.
3. The association says the first irreversible effect will occur on 5 October. Under the MP, ten days after publication, betting operators must make websites and internet applications used to offer betting unavailable. The extinction of authorizations is set for 25 October.
4. As an interim measure, Anseja wants the whole MP suspended and the prior legislation restored. In the alternative, it is asking for a transition period of at least 180 days and, among other points, for site blocking and the loss of funds to depend on a court decision.
5. The Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL) filed ADI 8027, which also challenges the MP and seeks its suspension. That petition asks for a declaration of constitutionality of Chapter V of Law 13.756/2018 and Law 14.790/2023, the statutes that make up Brazil’s betting framework and are already under review in ADIs 7721, 7723, and 7749. ANJL says suspending the MP should keep that regime in force, including already granted authorizations, until Congress reviews the issue or the STF issues a final ruling.

The new provisional measure was also added to ADI 7721, which is already pending before the STF and addresses the legal framework for fixed-odds betting. ANJL and the Instituto Brasileiro de Jogo Responsável (IBJR), admitted as amicus curiae, are asking the court to consider, in the joint review of the sector cases, that the new rule suspends the effectiveness of the regulatory framework currently under challenge.