Brazil’s Justice Fux Suspends All Court Cases Challenging the Betting Ban

^{The Supreme Federal Court (STF) in Brasília. Justice Luiz Fux has suspended all cases nationwide that challenge the betting ban. (Photo: Rob Sinclair / Wikimedia Commons)}

Brazilian Supreme Court justice Luiz Fux has ordered the suspension, nationwide, of every court case that challenges the constitutionality of Provisional Measure (MP) 1.394/2026, the measure that banned fixed-odds betting. The order stays in force until the Supreme Federal Court (STF) rules on the underlying challenges.

Fux signed the decision on Sunday 8 November, and the court published it on Monday. It was issued in one of the direct actions of unconstitutionality against the measure, after a request from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) on 6 November.

Why the Court Acted

The PGR told the court that the measure is already being challenged in four direct actions at the STF, numbered ADI 8024, 8027, 8028 and 8035. It said judges in other courts had nonetheless granted provisional orders suspending the effects of the measure on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.

Fux said that parallel cases on the same question can produce conflicting rulings and legal uncertainty. He also pointed to the risk of the “potential release of an activity recognised as harmful and of high social risk”, referring to fixed-odds betting, according to the court’s account of the decision.

The suspension remains in force until the STF delivers a final judgment on the constitutionality of the measure.

What Happens Next

Fux is the rapporteur for the four direct actions. He found that the urgency and legal plausibility needed for an interim order were present, and said he could grant the measure alone given the situation. The decision is effective immediately and will be put to the full court for confirmation.

The practical effect is to take the issue out of lower courts. Operators and trade bodies that had won local relief against the ban can no longer rely on those orders while the suspension stands, and further provisional rulings from other judges are halted.

The STF had already examined the ban in public. At a hearing on the measure, the government defended it, the sports sector warned of losses, and authorities and experts discussed health risks and the growth of the illegal market, according to the court’s own coverage of the sessions.

The STF has been working through the dispute for weeks. It has already held a hearing at which it heard the government, clubs and retailers on the betting ban.

The government’s own legal arm had also asked the Supreme Court to strike down betting laws in an earlier filing.

Industry groups, for their part, had pressed the court to suspend the ban itself, with betting bodies asking the Supreme Court to suspend the ban.

The commercial fallout has been visible in the market, where betting demand has fallen back to 2022 levels.

No date has been given for the full court’s vote on the suspension or for a final ruling on the four actions.