Stake's first court win against Brazil's betting ban is suspended a day later

Stake's first court win against the provisional measure that banned online betting in Brazil lasted one day. On 8 October 2026 a federal judge in São Paulo stopped the government from treating the licence of Stake Brazil Ltda. as expired before 25 October, the date the measure itself sets for every licence to end. On 9 October the president of the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF-3) suspended that order at the government's request, according to Brazilian press reports, and the ban applies to the company again. The São Paulo decision, published since, confirms what we reported: the judge refused to suspend the ban or to extend the licence to 2029.

The appeal court suspended the order a day later

On 9 October 2026 the president of the TRF-3, Judge Johonsom Di Salvo, granted a request from the federal government, filed by the Attorney General's Office (AGU), and suspended the São Paulo order, CNN Brasil, Metrópoles and Mobile Time reported. Mobile Time describes the request as a suspension of the injunction, the route that Law 12.016/2009 reserves for a court president when an order risks serious harm to public order, health, security or the economy.

In the passages the outlets quote, the judge found "grave lesão à ordem pública administrativa", serious harm to administrative public order, in keeping a single company outside a nationwide ban. He also pointed to the unequal treatment of competitors that comply, the risk that other operators would ask for the same, and the legal uncertainty of one-off rulings while the Supreme Court examines the measure. The suspension lasts until the case is finally decided or the court's presidency rules otherwise, and it is not a judgment on whether the ban is constitutional. The case itself continues in São Paulo, and the company may appeal the suspension within five days, without suspensive effect, under article 15 of the same law. We found no statement from Stake by 12 October.

What the judge granted, and what she refused

The case is an individual writ of mandamus (mandado de segurança) brought by Stake Brazil Ltda. in the 9th Federal Civil Court of São Paulo against the finance ministry's Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA), the telecoms regulator Anatel and the Central Bank. Judge Cristiane Farias Rodrigues dos Santos ruled on 8 October in a preliminary order, before hearing the government. The reports, and the decision published since, describe a partial win:

• Granted: the company's federal authorisation may not be treated as extinct before 25 October 2026.
• Granted: blocking or redirecting its domain is suspended where the only ground is that the authorisation was cut short.
• Granted: no sanction for operating within those limits, until 25 October or a new court decision, whichever comes first.
• Refused: suspending the provisional measure, and operating until 31 December 2029 as the company asked. In a passage published by Diario de Pernambuco, the judge found there was not, at this stage, enough certainty to guarantee operation until 2029.
• Not decided: whether the measure is constitutional. The claimed lack of urgency deserved a hearing with the government, the judge said, but a first look did not show the ban to be manifestly unconstitutional.

The order comes with conditions. Lei em Campo counts twelve, among them keeping identity, age and anti-money-laundering checks, refusing bets funded with social-programme money, launching no bonuses or acquisition campaigns, and guaranteeing withdrawals with the money to pay players set aside. It covers the company's own authorisation and domain only: the same report says the order expressly excludes other domains, brands and structures. Stake's lawyers said in a note, quoted by Lei em Campo, that it is the first decision in favour of a fixed-odds operator in the court fight over the measure's effects. The company told the court it paid the R$ 30 million licence fee and invested about R$ 128 million in Brazil; those are its own figures.

A 20-day gap inside the ban itself

The argument that won is built into Provisional Measure 1.394. Article 4 ends every federal and state authorisation thirty days after publication on 25 September, which falls around 25 October. Article 7 ordered operators to take their sites and apps offline after only ten days, by 5 October. For about 20 days, then, a licensee holds a licence it is not allowed to use. Lei em Campo sums up the reasoning: if the measure gives thirty days to extinguish licences, the government cannot take an operator offline before that. The order creates no new right, the judge is reported to have said; it holds the government to its own timetable.

The practical gain was meant to be short. Counting from the decision on 8 October to 25 October, Stake Brazil had at most 17 days; it kept one. Other former licensees could in principle put the same argument to a court. By 12 October we had found no similar order, and a federal court in Brasília dismissed another former licensee's writ on 8 October without ruling on the merits, holding that the measure is a general act rather than one aimed at the company, Focus Gaming News reported.

The dates that now matter

The routes to end the order

A preliminary order in a writ of mandamus lasts until the final judgment "salvo se revogada ou cassada", unless revoked or overturned, under Law 12.016/2009. The AGU said on 8 October that it would appeal to the TRF-3, without saying by which route. The law offers two: an interlocutory appeal, the agravo de instrumento, heard by a judge and panel of the TRF-3 (article 7, paragraph 1), or a request to the court's president to suspend the order to prevent serious harm to public order, health, security or the economy (article 15). The first-instance case runs on in parallel: the SPA, Anatel and the Central Bank have ten days to answer, and federal prosecutors then give an opinion, according to Lei em Campo. On 9 October the government took the second route.

The Supreme Court case is the bigger one

The São Paulo order bound one company, for one day. The challenges that could reopen or settle the whole market sit with Justice Luiz Fux at the Supreme Federal Court (STF), where industry bodies have asked for the measure to be suspended; we covered them when the ban was published (Brazil bans online betting). As of the morning of 9 October the court had published no decision, and its newsroom's latest item on the subject dated from 28 September. On 6 October, Agência Brasil reported, the AGU asked Fux to keep the ban in place, to wait for the Prosecutor General's opinion before ruling on any suspension, and to hold a new public hearing.

A UOL column, relayed by Yogonet on 8 October, says Fux is weighing whether to wait until after the presidential run-off on 25 October. If he does, the Supreme Court would rule only once every licence, Stake Brazil's included, has already lapsed. That coincidence of dates is our observation; Fux's intention is the columnist's account, and the court has not confirmed it.

What is confirmed and what is not yet known

• Confirmed in the decision text: the partial preliminary order of 8 October for Stake Brazil Ltda., valid until 25 October, and the refusals to suspend the ban and to extend the licence to 2029 (published by Poder360).
• Confirmed by press reports: the suspension of the order by the TRF-3 president on 9 October and the grounds quoted; the AGU's request; the dismissal of another former licensee's writ in Brasília on 8 October; the company's note on the first order.
• Confirmed at official sources: the 30-day and 10-day deadlines in articles 4 and 7 of the measure; the appeal and suspension routes in Law 12.016/2009; the 25 October run-off; no STF decision in the court's newsroom by 9 October.
• Not read: the TRF-3 decision and the case files; the STF's case portal, which refused our access.
• Not yet known: whether Stake appeals the suspension; whether its Brazilian site was back online between 8 and 9 October; when the São Paulo court gives judgment; when, and how, the Supreme Court rules.

What it means for players

Nothing. The order never reopened Brazil's market, and since 9 October it does not protect even Stake Brazil. Balances held by the formerly licensed operators go back through the banks between 9 and 14 October, as the justice ministry set out on 6 October, and the measure sets no penalty for players. One caution: be wary of any site that claims a court order lets it keep taking bets. This one covered a single company, its own authorisation and its own domain, never copies or lookalike brands, and it has been suspended. Our Portuguese report, primeira liminar contra a MP das bets, and the Brazil section carry the details and list free help in Brazil.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Planalto - Medida Provisória nº 1.394, de 25 de setembro de 2026 (articles 4, 7 and 9)
2. Planalto - Lei nº 12.016/2009 (mandado de segurança), articles 7 and 15
3. Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública - Bets fora do ar: plataformas cumprem determinação e encerram apostas no Brasil (6 Oct 2026)
4. Agência Brasil - AGU pede a Fux que aguarde PGR e mantenha proibição das bets no país (6 Oct 2026)
5. STF - Associações questionam no STF medida provisória que proíbe bets (28 Sep 2026)
6. Tribunal Superior Eleitoral - Eleições 2026: confira as principais datas do calendário eleitoral
7. Congresso Nacional - MPV 1394/2026
8. Poder360 - the 9th Federal Civil Court of São Paulo decision of 8 Oct 2026 (PDF)
9. CNN Brasil (press) - Justiça suspende liminar que autorizava operação de site de apostas (9 Oct 2026)
10. Metrópoles (press) - TRF-3 derruba liminar que permitia à Stake operar no Brasil até 25/10 (9 Oct 2026)
11. Mobile Time (press) - Stake: TRF3 suspende liminar que permitia sua operação (9 Oct 2026)
12. Focus Gaming News (press) - the Brasília dismissal of another former licensee's writ (9 Oct 2026)
13. Lei em Campo (press) - Empresa obtém primeira vitória de uma bet contra a MP e ganha sobrevida até 25 de outubro (8 Oct 2026)
14. Diario de Pernambuco (press) - Justiça garante funcionamento de casa de apostas até 25 de outubro após proibição das bets (8 Oct 2026)
15. ND Mais (press, citing UOL) - Bets bloqueadas no Brasil, exceto uma (8 Oct 2026)
16. Yogonet (press, relaying a UOL column) - Fux adia decisão sobre MP das bets para depois das eleições (8 Oct 2026)