Brazil’s online betting ban now hangs on Luiz Fux after second-round elections

Supreme Federal Court justice Luiz Fux is set to rule on the validity of Provisional Measure 1.394/2026, which banned online sports betting in Brazil. For PSPs, acquirers, and operators, the point is simple: this is now a legal and timing question, not just a policy one.

1. Fux is the rapporteur for the challenges to the measure and will decide whether the suspension of betting platforms stays in place or is overturned before the full court hears the case. According to Poder360, that decision will come after the second round of the elections.
2. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) signed the MP on Tuesday (25/9). It changed the regulation of fixed-odds betting and banned the operation, intermediation, and advertising of virtual casinos and gambling games in the country. In other words: the rule does not just touch operators; it also reaches the payment flow and the media buy.
3. On Wednesday (2/10), Fux gave the government 72 hours to provide information on the ban. The Attorney General’s Office (AGU) replied on Sunday (6/10), defending the measure’s continuation and describing bets as a “dragon” that needed to be tamed.
4. Challenges reached the STF almost immediately after the MP was published. The Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL) and the Instituto Brasileiro de Jogo Responsável (IBJR) were first, on Sunday (28/9), asking for an injunction suspending the measure until Congress or the STF’s plenary decides on the text.
5. More industry and sports voices followed. On Tuesday (30/9), the Associação Brasileira de Emissoras de Rádio e Televisão (Abert) said broadcasters had been prevented from carrying out “execution of regularly signed agreements” and flagged “revenue losses” from the ban on betting ads. Then Flamengo, Botafogo, São Paulo Futebol Clube, Ponte Preta, Guarani, Portuguesa, Vitória, Cruzeiro, Fluminense, and 14 other clubs moved to intervene or asked for time to adapt, warning about pressure on Brazilian football’s commercial model.

Fux is handling six Direct Actions of Unconstitutionality on the issue: ADI 8024, from ANSEJA; ADI 8027, from ANJL-IBJR; ADI 8028, from ANPV; ADI 7721, from CNC; and ADIs 7723 and 7749, from the PGR. The immediate question for the market is whether the sector stays frozen pending the court’s next move, or whether the ban is suspended first and litigated later — which, in Brazil, is often how the important part of the story actually works.