Brazil’s betting ban MP risks expiring before Congress even sets up the joint committee

More than 40 days after President Lula signed the provisional measure, the text has still not started its real path through Congress. For high-risk operators and payment providers, the practical point is simple: a ban that is still stuck at the starting line can still disappear on procedure.

1. President Lula (PT) signed the MP on 25 September, but the joint committee that must review it and issue a report before a plenary vote has not been installed. If the MP is not voted on within the constitutional 120-day deadline, it loses validity and all of its effects fall away.
2. The MP’s initial 60-day validity runs until 23 November. The government can extend it for another 60 days. Because the clock is suspended during the parliamentary recess, the deadline for a vote is 4 March 2027. From Monday, 9 November, the measure also enters an urgent regime and begins to block the House agenda, preventing ordinary bills from being voted on until it is considered.
3. Without the committee, the 99 amendments submitted by deputies and senators also remain untouched. Most of them move in the opposite direction to the Planalto: instead of removing betting houses from the market, they keep sports betting and propose specific restrictions on advertising and online casinos.
4. Calling the meeting that will choose the committee chair and rapporteur is the responsibility of Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP). According to the column cited by O Globo, he is focused on his campaign to stay at the head of the Senate for the next two-year term. Even the lawmakers nominated to the committee do not know when it will be formed.
5. Senators quoted by O Globo believe the executive branch may be letting the committee stall so the matter can end up being decided by the judiciary, even while the government publicly defends the ban. PL Senate leader Carlos Portinho (RJ) said “priority does not stay in a drawer” and argued that the MP had an electoral purpose, with the Planalto now betting on either expiry or a transfer of the decision to the STF. Eduardo Braga (MDB-AM) and Cid Gomes (PSB-CE) asked Alcolumbre on Wednesday (4) to speed up the process, while Esperidião Amin (PP-SC) backed the request and signaled support for the ban.

The reason this matters for PSPs and acquirers is less about Brazilian parliamentary theatre and more about timing risk: the same text can sit idle for months, move into urgency, and still either expire or survive into a more hostile legislature. In other words, the regulatory path is not finished until it is finished.