Brazil bans online betting and casino games less than two years after licensing them

Brazil banned fixed-odds betting nationwide on 25 September 2026, covering both sports betting and online casino games, by a provisional measure published in an extra edition of the official gazette. The ban took effect the same day and reaches operators based abroad. It closes a licensed market that had only opened on 1 January 2025, with 85 licences that each cost R$ 30 million. Congress must convert the measure into law by 23 November, extendable, and industry associations have asked the Supreme Federal Court to suspend it.

The text is Medida Provisória nº 1.394/2026, signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. A provisional measure has the force of law from publication, but it lapses if Congress does not convert it within the constitutional deadline. Until then, the ban applies in full.

What the measure bans

Article 1 prohibits the exploitation, offer, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting in Brazilian territory, online or in person, including when the operator is based abroad and offers bets to people in Brazil. Paragraph 1 makes clear that this covers bets on real sporting events and bets on virtual events in online games, which is where licensed casino content sat. Traditional lotteries are not affected (paragraph 2), but state lottery licences for fixed-odds betting are (article 2).

The measure also reaches the businesses around betting. Article 14 bars banks and payment institutions, including instant-payment schemes such as Pix, from processing betting transactions other than the wind-down and refunds. Article 16 bans all advertising, marketing and sponsorship, and gives ten days to remove what is already running. Articles 19 to 22 place duties on internet platforms and app stores, and article 23 lets the finance and justice ministries order sites to be blocked. The sanctions in the text are aimed at operators, payment firms, advertisers and platforms; none are aimed at players.

The timetable and the Congress deadline

The deadlines are short. The government set out the practical dates on 25 September; the licence and Congress dates come from the measure and from the Congress calendar.

In Congress, the measure goes first to a joint committee of deputies and senators, then to the Chamber and the Senate. On 29 September the Congress website showed it as awaiting the appointment of committee members, with no rapporteur and no amendments filed; the amendment window closes on 1 October. If Congress does not convert it by 23 November, or by the extended deadline, it loses effect. More detail in Portuguese is on our MP das bets explainer.

What happens to money in player accounts

The withdrawal window closed at 23:59 on 5 October, with R$ 1.33 billion still on the platforms that afternoon, according to Finance Ministry figures reported by Poder360. From there, operators must send their banks a list of players, by CPF tax number, with the amounts owed. Banks and payment institutions return the rest between 9 and 14 October, into an active account held in the player's own name, preferably the account the money came from. The state bank Caixa Econômica Federal steps in only in case of operational difficulties, according to the Ministry of Justice, and money that cannot be returned goes to a dedicated Caixa account for later restitution. Bets still open when the sites go offline are voided and refunded in full, with no deductions allowed; bets already settled are paid.

The government's case and the first enforcement

The Ministry of Health framed the ban as a public health measure. It said that in 2023 more than 28 million Brazilians had bet in the previous 12 months and 10.9 million showed a risky or problematic pattern of play, and that gambling-related care in the public health system grew by about 140% between 2018 and 2025. The Ministry of Justice added that more than 1.3 million Brazilians had already asked to be excluded from betting sites through the national self-exclusion platform. On the same day the government sent Congress a separate bill on the exploitation and promotion of betting; it is not law.

Enforcement began at once. On 27 September the justice and finance ministries said a joint task force had taken down 506 sites showing signs of irregular betting offers. Its monitoring lab also found about 1,960 betting ads from seven domains shown on Google in Brazil between 25 and 27 September, and seven ads on Meta, two of them started after the ban. The ministry plans a technical meeting with Google, Meta and TikTok on ad blocking, removal times and data preservation.

The Supreme Court challenge

On 28 September two industry bodies, the Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL) and the Instituto Brasileiro de Jogo Responsável (IBJR), asked the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to suspend the measure. According to Migalhas and iGamingBusiness, they filed within three existing constitutional challenges to the 2023 betting law, ADIs 7.721, 7.723 and 7.749, in which they already take part as interested third parties; the rapporteur is Justice Luiz Fux. They argue there is no constitutional urgency, that the government had no impact studies, and that closing a market the state itself licensed breaks legal certainty. They ask for a full suspension, or failing that a suspension for licensed operators or a six-month extension. Gazeta Brasil reported that the Attorney General's Office asked for 72 hours to respond before any injunction; Fux granted them on 2 October, and the same day, Agência Brasil reported, the office asked the court to declare the 2018 and 2023 betting laws themselves unconstitutional. Under Law 9.868/1999, an injunction in such cases is granted by an absolute majority of the court, and if it suspends a rule the previous law applies again unless the court says otherwise. No decision had been reported by 29 September.

Why banning a licensed market is unusual

What stands out is the sequence. Brazil legalised fixed-odds betting in 2018, passed a full regulatory law in 2023 that also covered online casino games, and from 1 January 2025 allowed only licensed operators on ".bet.br" domains. The Ministry of Health says 85 federal licences were granted at R$ 30 million each, R$ 2.55 billion in total. Article 4 of the measure ends all of them after 30 days and states that operators get no refund of that fee and no compensation. The industry's case at the STF rests largely on that point: operators invested under rules the state wrote, and the same state is closing the market less than two years later.

What is confirmed and what is not yet known

• Confirmed: the ban is in force; it covers sports betting and online casino games, including offshore operators; licences lapse on 25 October with no fee refund; the withdrawal window closed on 5 October and bank refunds run from 9 to 14 October; 506 sites were taken down in the first two days; the Justice Ministry had sent 10,435 addresses for blocking by 2 October (MJSP) and 13,241 by 6 October, when it also said only one of the 188 previously licensed sites was still online and that a block had been requested (MJSP).
• Not yet known: whether Congress will approve, amend or let the measure lapse; whether the STF will grant any suspension (none by 9 October; on 6 October the Attorney General's Office asked Justice Fux to keep the ban and to hear the Prosecutor General first, Agência Brasil reported); how players will check money held in the Caixa account; what happens to the national self-exclusion platform once the licences end.

What it means for players

The measure does not penalise players. For anyone in Brazil with a balance at a formerly licensed operator, the withdrawal window is over, so the practical steps are the official ones: keep statements and receipts, and expect any remaining balance to arrive from the operator's bank into an account in your own name by 14 October. One former licensee won a court order to keep its licence until 25 October, but the appeal court's president suspended it a day later (our report on the court order), so sites that keep offering bets after the ban are not authorised, and the protections of the regulated market do not apply there. Our Brazil section covers the rules in Portuguese, including where to find free help if gambling has become a problem.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Planalto - Medida Provisória nº 1.394, de 25 de setembro de 2026
2. Congresso Nacional - MPV 1394/2026, tramitação and calendar (26 Sep 2026)
3. Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública - Governo Federal proíbe bets em todo o país (25 Sep 2026)
4. Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública - Governo Federal amplia fiscalização contra bets ilegais (2 Oct 2026)
5. Agência Brasil - AGU pede ao STF que declare inconstitucionais leis das bets (2 Oct 2026)
6. Poder360 (press) - Plataformas de apostas saem do ar no Brasil (6 Oct 2026), with Finance Ministry figures
7. Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública - Força-tarefa derruba 506 sites suspeitos de apostas (27 Sep 2026)
8. Ministério da Saúde - Presidente Lula assina medida provisória que proíbe as bets no Brasil (25 Sep 2026)
9. Ministério da Fazenda, SPA - FAQ apostas de quota fixa (1 Oct 2024)
10. Planalto - Lei nº 9.868/1999
11. Migalhas (press) - Entidades pedem ao STF suspensão da MP que proíbe bets (28 Sep 2026)
12. iGamingBusiness Brasil (press) - ANJL e IBJR pedem ao STF suspensão da MP (28 Sep 2026)
13. Gazeta Brasil (press) - Governo pede a Fux 72 horas para se manifestar (28 Sep 2026)
14. Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública - Bets fora do ar: plataformas cumprem determinação e encerram apostas no Brasil (6 Oct 2026)
15. Agência Brasil - AGU pede a Fux que aguarde PGR e mantenha proibição das bets no país (6 Oct 2026)