Brazil Extends Its Betting Ban by 60 Days, Leaving Congress Few Weeks to Act

The automatic extension keeps Provisional Measure 1.394 in force until early March, but most of that time falls in a budget fight, a recess and the arrival of a new Congress. The committee that must report first has still not met.

• Senator Davi Alcolumbre, President of the Mesa of Brazil's National Congress, extended Provisional Measure 1.394, which bans fixed-quota betting, by 60 days in an act published on 11 November
• The measure was issued on 25 September and its first period runs to 23 November; BNLData calculates that the extended period, which pauses for the recess, ends on 4 March 2027
• The joint committee that must report first has awaited installation since 21 October, with no chair or rapporteur, and faces 99 amendments
• The Senate's Economic Affairs Committee has approved its own hearing on the ban but set no date
• The Cielo retail index fell 4% in real terms in October, the first full month without licensed betting

Alcolumbre's Act Keeps the Betting Ban in Force Into 2027

Senator Davi Alcolumbre, President of the Mesa (governing board) of the National Congress, signed Act No. 118 on 10 November, extending Provisional Measure 1.394 "pelo período de sessenta dias" (for a period of 60 days). It was published in the Diário Oficial da União on Wednesday 11 November under Article 62, paragraph 7 of the Constitution, which allows one further period of equal length when the chambers have not finished voting.

The measure prohibits the exploitation, offer, intermediation and advertising of fixed-quota betting in Brazil, creates an interinstitutional committee to police illegal betting and its advertising, and amends Law 14.790 of 2023, which created the licensed market. Federal authorisations were extinguished on 25 October, and no licensed operator has traded since 9 November, a day after Justice Luiz Fux of the Supreme Federal Tribunal froze every lower court challenge.

Congress's calendar set the first period from 25 September to 23 November, with the measure locking each chamber's agenda from 9 November. BNLData, an industry title, calculates that the second period starts on 24 November, stops for the recess from 23 December to 1 February and ends on 4 March 2027. On our arithmetic that holds: 29 days fall before the recess and 31 after it.

A Committee With Members but No Meeting

The joint committee's members were appointed from 30 September, but the Senate's record has shown it "aguardando instalação" (awaiting installation) since 21 October. Under the Supreme Federal Tribunal's 2012 ruling in ADI 4029, it must report before the measure reaches the floor of either chamber. Amendment filing closed on 13 October with 99 amendments, and the only entry since is a request filed on 5 November by Deputy Capitão Alden (PL-BA), a member, for the documents behind the measure and a public hearing.

BNLData counts five working weeks left in 2026, most likely to go to the 2027 budget, and about a week and a half in 2027 once the new legislature, Carnival and committee elections are out of the way. Citing CNN Brasil, it reports that the government has listed the measure among four priorities before the recess, with the budget, a third phase of the Desenrola Brasil debt programme and big tech regulation.

The First Full Month Without Licensed Betting

October was the first full month without licensed betting. The Cielo Expanded Retail Index (ICVA) fell 4% in real terms against October 2025, Folha de S.Paulo reported on 10 November, while nominal sales rose 1.3%; durable goods fell 8.9% and services 8.5%. BNLData uses the figure against the government's claim that ending betting would lift consumption, calling it the worst of 17 straight monthly declines, though Folha puts September's fall higher, at 4.2%.

The Extension Is a Formality, the Calendar Is Not

Article 62 grants the second period whenever the votes are unfinished, so the act says nothing about anyone's intentions. In the time left, mostly claimed by the budget or a new Congress, a committee that has not met since it was designated six weeks ago must be installed, elect officers, hold hearings and report. A priority with no rapporteur suggests leaders have not agreed a text.

Running Out the Clock Would Not Bring the Licences Back

Operators hoping the measure lapses should note paragraph 11 of Article 62: unless Congress passes a legislative decree within 60 days of a lapse, legal relations formed while a measure was in force remain governed by it. On that reading, authorisations extinguished on 25 October would not revive on their own. Regulus Partners put the chance of a lapse at about 80%, as iGT reported in October. That is why amendments that would restore the licences matter more to operators than the deadline itself.

One Month of Retail Data Settles Nothing

A 4% real fall gives no sign that money released from betting reached the shops, but nor does it show the ban hurt retail: food and drink prices rose 0.9% in October, according to Folha, and the index was falling long before the ban. On Folha's numbers, October even improved slightly on September.

The extension keeps Brazil's betting ban in force until March, but it does not give Congress more working weeks. Unless the committee meets before the recess, a Congress not yet sworn in will decide its fate.