Mayors Take Brazil's Betting Ban to the STF as Congress Files Amendments to Narrow It

A national association of mayors has filed a third direct action against Provisional Measure 1.394, Flamengo has been admitted to the Supreme Court's betting cases, and the first 12 amendments in Congress include a slots-only rewrite. None of it has yet stopped the clock: licensed sites go dark on 6 October.

• The National Association of Mayors and Deputy Mayors (ANPV) filed ADI 8028 at the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) on 29 September, asking it to suspend the whole of Brazil's betting ban or, failing that, to grant a transition of at least 180 days
• Justice Luiz Fux admitted Flamengo to the cases on the 2023 betting law on 30 September, but the dockets show no ruling on any request to suspend the measure, and the three actions against it had not been assigned a rapporteur
• Congress named the joint committee that must report on the measure on 30 September, with no chair or rapporteur yet; amendments close on 1 October and the measure locks the agenda from 9 November
• The first 12 amendments include a rewrite limiting the ban to slot games, a transition letting licensees run to the end of their five-year terms, and a carve-out for sports betting from a former Flamengo director
• A federal judge has given the Attorney General's Office 30 days to explain the damages it claims in its suit against 17 licensed operators, noting that they operated under federal authorisation

The Ban Faces Mayors, a Club and a Congress Already Drafting Changes

The ANPV's direct action of unconstitutionality, ADI 8028, was lodged on Tuesday 29 September, according to the STF's docket. It is the third direct action against Provisional Measure 1.394 itself, after ADI 8024 from the Associação Nacional pela Segurança Jurídica dos Jogos e Apostas (Anseja) and ADI 8027 from the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), both filed on 28 September. The operators had already taken the measure into the existing cases on the 2023 law, as we reported on Monday.

According to BNLData's account of the petition, the mayors argue that the measure fails the constitutional test of urgency, because it produces irreversible effects before Congress examines it: sites go offline on 6 October and licences are extinguished on 25 October. They argue that it strays into territory closed to provisional measures by allowing assets to be frozen and declared forfeit without a court process, and that Articles 2 and 26, which extend the ban to licences issued by the states and the Federal District, breach the federal pact. They put the federal tax revenue lost at R$5.15 billion (approximately $995 million) in 2027, and say municipalities lose a source of funding for education, health and public safety. They ask for the whole measure to be suspended and the previous framework restored, or for a transition of at least 180 days, and for the case to go to Justice Luiz Fux, rapporteur of the earlier betting cases.

Flamengo Gets a Seat, but Not a Ruling

On Wednesday 30 September Fux signed a one-line order: "admito o ingresso do Clube de Regatas do Flamengo como amicus curiae nas ADIs 7.721, 7.723 e 7.749" (I admit Clube de Regatas do Flamengo as amicus curiae in ADIs 7.721, 7.723 and 7.749). The order decides nothing on the merits or on any request to suspend the measure, as Poder360 noted; Fluminense, Botafogo and Cruzeiro were admitted in August. The club also asked to join the ANJL's ADI 8027, according to BNLData, citing its Betano shirt deal, worth about R$268.5 million (approximately $52 million) a year until December 2028, and arguing that ten days to remove betting branding is not enough. The ADI 8027 docket shows four amicus petitions filed on 29 September and, as of Thursday, no rapporteur and no decision.

The National Union of Professional Football Associations (Sinafut) also asked to join the STF proceedings on 29 September, seeking suspension or a six-month transition, according to CNN Brasil. Clubs discussed halting the Brasileirão to press the government, Folha de S.Paulo reported, according to BNLData, and the meeting the Sports Ministry had called with them for 29 September did not take place; CNN Brasil reported there is no formal decision to stop the championship. Betting companies paid Série A clubs about R$1.03 billion (approximately $199 million) in 2025, according to consultancy Convocados. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on 28 September that the measure does no harm to football.

Congress Seats Its Committee, and the Amendments Arrive

The Congress record shows a joint committee designated on 30 September. Its members include Doutor Luizinho, leader of the Progressistas (PP) in the Chamber of Deputies, MDB senators Eduardo Braga and Marcelo Castro, and the PT's Camilo Santana. The chair will be a senator and the rapporteur a deputy, according to iGaming Brazil, and neither has been chosen. Under the official calendar, amendments close at 23:59 on 1 October, the measure starts blocking the agenda of each house on 9 November, its 46th day, and it must be voted by 23 November unless extended once for another 60 days.

Twelve amendments had been filed by 30 September, all from deputies. Pedro Aihara (PP-MG) proposes recasting the measure as a ban on "apostas em jogos de slot", slot games, according to the Congress record. Beto Preto (PSD-PR), who filed five, proposes letting licensed companies operate until their authorisations expire, with no renewal, according to Brasil 247. Marcos Braz (PSDB-RJ), a former vice-president of football at Flamengo, filed five, including one barring recipients of federal cash transfers such as Bolsa Família from betting; according to O Globo, his others would exempt sports betting on "consolidated results, final scores and collective metrics" of real matches and give clubs 24 months to keep passive sponsorship branding.

Party leaders are discussing a transition period, a refund of licence fees and exemptions for some sectors, O Globo reported, as cited by BNLData. "Vamos tratar disso pós-eleições, mas acho que terá que ser feito algo plausível" (we will deal with this after the elections, but I think something plausible will have to be done), Doutor Luizinho said.

A Judge Asks the AGU to Show Its Working

In Pernambuco, Judge Helio Silvio Ourem Campos of the 6th Federal Court ordered the Attorney General's Office (AGU) on 29 September to amend, within 30 days, its public civil action against 17 operators, case 0074433-17.2026.4.05.8300, according to BNLData. He asked it to state "de forma objetiva" (objectively) which conditions and public expenses are covered, the data behind its figures, how it applies a population attributable fraction, how liability is split among the 17 operators and the period claimed, and to clarify a reference to tobacco-related disease. The order notes that the companies operate under authorisation from the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting, and leaves the request for an injunction until after the amendment. The AGU claims at least R$1 billion (approximately $193 million) in collective moral damages.

Five Days From Shutdown, the New Cases Have Not Yet Been Assigned

Every action against the measure argues that its effects become irreversible on 6 October, and the AGU's request on Monday for 72 hours to respond pushed any decision on the operators' petition towards the end of the week. Five days before the sites go offline, the actions aimed at the measure itself had not been distributed to a justice. Admitting a fourth football club to cases about the 2023 law tells the market nothing about how Fux reads the 2026 measure. A court that has spent nearly two years on the 2023 law is now being asked to rule in days, and an injunction that arrives after 6 October would have to revive sites that are already returning their players' money through the banks.

The Amendments Already Sketch the Compromise

A slots-only ban is close to the option the government itself tabled before Lula chose a full ban, when ministers were split between the two, and a run-off to the end of each five-year licence would answer the refund question by honouring the R$30 million (approximately $5.8 million) fee rather than repaying it. Braz's sports carve-out goes further and would keep the product clubs depend on. If "after the elections" means after the run-off on 25 October, that is also the day the licences are extinguished. A conversion law can restore a market; it cannot easily restore licences that have lapsed, so what Congress writes may end up governing a new licensing round rather than rescuing the old one.

The Pernambuco Order Exposes a Tension in the Government's Case

The judge's six questions are routine case management, but one observation is not: the defendants were authorised by the Finance Ministry. The government's case against them rests on harm caused by a product it licensed, priced at R$30 million a licence, and taxed, and now says was too dangerous to allow. That is not a contradiction in law, because a licence does not immunise an operator from liability, but it shifts the burden on to causation and apportionment, exactly what the court has asked the AGU to demonstrate.

The fight over the ban has moved from the operators to the mayors, the clubs and Congress, and every one of them is asking for time. The measure has not given them any, and on 6 October the licensed market goes dark whatever they win later.