Brazil's 1941 Gaming Ban Case Is Released for Judgment, With No Date Set

The Supreme Federal Tribunal case on whether Brazil's 1941 criminal ban on games of chance survived the 1988 Constitution is free to return to the plenary. Its rapporteur, Justice Luiz Fux, also handles the challenges to the betting ban, and has already voted that the 1941 ban stands.

• The case file of RE 966177, on whether Article 50 of the 1941 Criminal Contraventions Law survived the 1988 Constitution, was returned under Justice Flávio Dino's name on 12 November, as the 90-day review limit ran out, and was automatically included for in-person plenary judgment
• No date has been set: the STF's president lists cases, and this one was dropped from the calendar in 2022 and April 2026 before being heard in August
• Fux voted on 6 August that the ban stands; Dino agrees on validity but wants a thesis that also covers online betting
• The plenary agreed in August to decide the case with challenges to the 2023 betting law, and BNLData reports that municipal lotteries and the betting ban have since been added
• At least 2,728 stayed cases await the ruling, according to the STF

A Review Period Ends and the Gaming Case Is Free to Return

The Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) docket for RE 966177 records on Thursday 12 November "Vista - Devolução dos autos para julgamento" under Dino's name, then an entry logged at 00:00:03: "Processo incluído para julgamento de forma automática, conforme Emenda Regimental 58, de 19 de dezembro de 2022." That amendment gives a justice 90 days from publication of the minutes to return a file, after which it is released automatically, the STF said when it was adopted. The 6 August minutes were published on 13 August, so the 90 days ran to 11 November.

The case, Theme 924 of general repercussion, is an appeal by Rio Grande do Sul prosecutors against an appeals panel that acquitted a trader who ran slot machines in a bar in São Leopoldo. Article 50 of Decree-Law 3.688/1941 punishes running games of chance in a place open to the public with three months to a year of simple imprisonment and a fine.

Fux Has Voted, and Dino Wants the Thesis to Reach Online Betting

Justice Luiz Fux, the rapporteur, voted on 6 August to restore the conviction, proposing the thesis that the contravention "foi recepcionada pela Constituição de 1988" (was received by the 1988 Constitution). Dino agrees on validity but argues that the thesis must cover online betting, the STF said, and by consensus the plenary agreed to conclude the case together with ADIs 7721 and 7723 against the 2023 betting law.

On 4 November the plenary heard and suspended ADPF 1212, the Solidariedade party's challenge to municipal lotteries, reported by Justice Nunes Marques. Its minute records no joint judgment, but BNLData, an industry title, reports that Dino proposed one covering the betting law, the four ADIs against Provisional Measure 1.394 and RE 966177, and that this was agreed, as iGT reported. BNLData says Fux had held back a position on the measure until the gaming file returned.

The 1941 Ban Is the Foundation Under the Bets Case

Fux is rapporteur of the gaming appeal and the four ADIs against the measure, and BNLData lists the betting law ADIs as Fux's too. The 8 November order freezing lower court challenges already cited the 6 August vote. A thesis written Dino's way could confirm that the state may prohibit online betting outright, the premise of Provisional Measure 1.394, which Congress has just extended into March 2027.

A Joint Ruling Would Settle Less Than It Appears

Receiving Article 50 means the state may criminalise gaming, not that it must, so on that reasoning a statute licensing betting would not fall with it. Whether the measure was urgent enough to issue is a separate question, and one Fux raised at the 3 November hearing. A joint ruling could still clear the stayed cases, the municipal lottery dispute and the measure's validity at once.

Release Is Not a Hearing Date

The case now waits for STF President Edson Fachin to list it, and the court has set and dropped dates for it before. Operators hoping for a transition should read the 12 November entry as procedural.

The last obstacle in the gaming file has gone, but the calendar belongs to Fachin. When the court sits, the rapporteur deciding the betting ban will be asking it to confirm a vote that gaming can be a crime.