Stake to challenge Brazilian court reversal of injunction against betting ban

Stake will challenge a Brazilian court decision that overturned a temporary injunction allowing the operator to keep running after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva banned licensed betting in late September. For licensed operators in Brazil, this is not just one company’s court fight: it goes to the legal certainty behind the BRL30 million licence fee, the BRL5 million financial reserve, and the wider case for staying in the market.

1. Stake briefly had a reprieve after a preliminary injunction allowed it to continue operating until 25 October, but the next day Judge Luis Antonio Johonsom di Salvo, president of the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF-3), suspended the injunction and the operator was banned again.
2. The case is being handled by Brazilian law firm Bichara e Motta Advogados. Udo Seckelmann, a partner at the firm, told iGB that Stake will challenge the decision and that the legal team is weighing two possible strategies before filing.
3. “Of course, this is not over,” Seckelmann said. “We are drawing up some strategies to overturn this. We’re going to challenge this decision for sure. We have two possible strategies. We’re analysing which one would be best to file.”
4. He declined to say on what grounds Stake will seek to overturn the suspension, but said the case matters for the wider Brazil betting sector as operators try to regain legal status. “If we get a positive decision in the next couple of days, maybe other operators will get that too,” he said.
5. Stake’s argument is built around the investment and compliance burden of entering the regulated market. Operators paid a BRL30 million ($6 million) licence fee and had to post a financial reserve of at least BRL5 million, while international companies such as Stake were required to have a headquarters in Brazil. Seckelmann said the sudden reversal undermines the legal certainty on which operators relied when entering the market.

The regulated Brazilian market launched on 1 January 2025, and since then it has been hit by public criticism after news coverage linked gambling to family debt. Seckelmann said that perception often mixes licensed operators with black market companies, which is exactly the sort of confusion that tends to matter when a regulator can switch off a market faster than operators can recoup the entry bill.