Fux Freezes Every Lower Court Challenge to Brazil's Betting Ban

The Supreme Federal Tribunal's rapporteur granted the Prosecutor-General's request within two days, and his order calls betting a harmful activity. Brazil's last licensed sportsbook went offline the next morning, leaving Congress as the operators' only route back.

• Justice Luiz Fux of the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) suspended nationwide on 8 November every lower court case challenging the constitutionality of Provisional Measure 1.394, which banned fixed-quota betting in Brazil
• The suspension is already in force and runs until a final STF ruling, although the full court must still endorse it
• Fux granted a request the Prosecutor-General filed on 6 November, as iGT reported, and called betting an activity of "elevado risco social" (high social risk)
• CDA Gaming took Casa de Apostas offline at 9:00 on 9 November, cancelling open bets and refunding balances, so no licensed operator is trading in Brazil
• Congress has still not installed the committee on the measure, whose deliberation period ends on 23 November

Fux Grants the Prosecutor-General's Request in Two Days

Fux, rapporteur of the four direct actions of unconstitutionality (ADIs) against Provisional Measure 1.394, signed a single-justice decision in ADI 8027 in Brasília on Sunday 8 November; the STF docket records the injunction as granted on 9 November. It suspends "TODOS os processos judiciais" (ALL court proceedings) in the ordinary courts that discuss the measure's constitutionality until a final STF ruling in the four ADIs. In a news release, the court said the decision is already in force and will go to the plenary for referendum. No date has been set.

ADI 8027 was brought by the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL). The Prosecutor-General's petition, logged at 19:33 on 6 November, asked for the cases to be stayed "em âmbito nacional" (nationwide). It cited a São Paulo federal court injunction of 8 October that let Stake Brazil operate until 25 October, and a Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF3) order of 3 November covering CDA Gaming's Casa de Apostas, Betsul and Jogo Online. It argued that such rulings caused "aplicação assimétrica" (asymmetric application) of the measure.

Fux called a single-justice injunction exceptional but permitted, subject to referendum, relying on Article 21 of Law 9.868/1999 and, by analogy, the rules for urgent injunctions in fundamental-precept cases. His precedents include Justice Flávio Dino's nationwide stay of cases over Mato Grosso's soy moratorium law in November 2025.

He found a risk of conflicting decisions, aggravated by the "potencial liberação de atividade reconhecidamente danosa e de elevado risco social" (potential release of an activity recognised as harmful and of high social risk), citing his remarks at the STF's 3 November public hearing and his 6 August vote in RE 966.177, the gaming ban case. The order does not decide whether the measure is valid.

Casa de Apostas Goes Dark Again

CDA Gaming told customers on the morning of 9 November that it had suspended its platforms, according to a notice published by BNLData, an industry title. Casa de Apostas, the only one of its three brands to return, went offline at 9:00, three days after the TRF3's president suspended its injunction at the Attorney General's Office's request. The company said it had cancelled open bets and would refund balances that day to customers' linked bank accounts, ending: "isso não é um adeus, mas apenas um até breve" (this is not goodbye, only see you soon).

BNLData counts 19 operator and association suits in the federal courts, 14 in the TRF3 and five in the TRF1, all now frozen. The congressional record shows the measure's joint committee still awaiting installation, with deliberation ending on 23 November and the urgency regime starting on 9 November. BNLData calculates that it lapses on 4 March 2027 if not voted.

The Courts Are Closed for the Duration

The TRF3's president twice cancelled an operator's win on public-order grounds; Fux's order stops any new one being sought. The cases are stayed, not dismissed, pending a joint STF judgment with municipal lotteries and the gaming ban that, BNLData says, has no date. The plenary referendum is the operators' one remaining hearing, and it reviews the stay, not the ban.

Fux Has Shown His Hand on the Merits

A procedural stay required no view of betting, yet Fux supplied one, echoing the 3 November hearing where he said bets should be banned. The plausibility he found attaches to the request, not the measure, but operators now have little reason to expect the rapporteur to suspend the ban, and must persuade a majority of the other 10 justices.

Congress Holds the Only Live Clock

Nothing has started in Congress two weeks before the first deadline. The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), which represents betting operators, says in its third-quarter report that it logged 25 suspicious betting alerts on Brazilian events in 2025, against an average of 11 a year in 2021 to 2024, and that the ban removes the duty to report. Citing H2 Gambling Capital, it expects R$25 billion, approximately $4.6 billion, of R$40 billion in pre-ban regulated spend to move offshore, and asks Congress to reconsider with a published impact assessment.

Fux has shut the courthouse door that operators prised open twice. Until the plenary or Congress acts, Brazil's licensed betting market exists only on paper.