Brazil’s Supreme Court and Finance Ministry discuss betting regulation, illegal sites, and 2026 rulings

Supreme Federal Court (STF) President Edson Fachin met Finance Minister Dario Durigan on Wednesday (15) to discuss fixed-odds betting in Brazil, with the focus squarely on illegal platforms, regulatory tweaks, and the cases already moving through the Court. For PSPs and acquirers in high-risk, the important bit is that Brazil is still building its enforcement and judicial framework at the same time.

1. Fachin said the STF should move toward final judgments on the betting cases in the second half of 2026. He also said the Court will take into account everything already gathered in the case files, the public hearings, and the debate that will take place in plenary.
2. He framed the cases as a broader social issue, pointing to the impact of betting on vulnerable people, severe household debt, gambling-related pathologies, and possible links between illegal operators and criminal organizations. He also said the Court has already started responding through precautionary measures aimed at urgent protection.
3. Durigan said the government has blocked about 56,000 illegal betting sites, apps, and platforms. He added that the regulated market now has 85 authorized operators, along with nearly one million self-exclusion registrations.
4. The Finance Ministry also mentioned operations carried out with the Federal Police (PF) and measures to prevent beneficiaries of social programs and participants in Novo Desenrola Brasil from accessing betting platforms.
5. According to Durigan, the government wants to expand monitoring of betting volume, user debt, and the sector’s impact on the population. Those inputs are expected to feed further regulatory adjustments, especially on advertising, player protection, and the prevention of illicit activity.

For high-risk payment providers, the signal is straightforward: Brazil is not just licensing operators. It is also tightening surveillance, adding exclusion rules, and feeding enforcement data into the STF record at the same time the Court prepares to rule on the underlying betting cases.