News · 5 November 2026
Brazil betting ban, one month on: first operator back online by court order, Congress vote due
Brazil’s regulated betting market has been switched off for a month. On 3 November a judge of the federal appeals court for São Paulo provisionally restored the authorisation of CDA Gaming, the company behind Casa de Apostas, Betsul and Jogo Online, making it the first licensed operator legally back online since 6 October. The order is interim, covers one company and will be contested, but it is the first court decision to call the measure a confiscation. The government has meanwhile classified the documents behind the ban for five years, the Supreme Court has heard the industry without ruling, and the clock in Congress runs to 23 November. This follows our 9 October report on the shutdown and the R$1.325 billion refund.
The short version
- MP 1.394, published on 25 September, bans fixed-odds betting online and offline. Sites went dark on 6 October; the 85 federal authorisations ended on 25 October with no return of the R$30 million paid for each.
- On 3 November Judge Adriana Pileggi of TRF3 ordered CDA Gaming’s domains, operations and payment services restored and lifted the Ministry of Justice’s takedown order. The casino is live; the sportsbook is not yet.
- Stake won a partial injunction on 8 October; the president of TRF3 suspended it the next day at the government’s request.
- At the Supreme Court ANJL’s ADI 8027 and other challenges sit with Justice Luiz Fux, who held a hearing on 3 November without ruling.
- The MP blocks the congressional agenda from 9 November; its initial 60-day period ends on 23 November, extendable once by 60 days.
What the court decided
CDA Gaming had paid R$30 million for an authorisation valid until 31 December 2029 under SPA/MF Ordinance 255/2025. The 26th Federal Civil Court of São Paulo refused its injunction; on appeal, Judge Pileggi granted interim relief and also lifted Ofício 1256/2026, the digital-rights order used to take licensed domains offline. In her reasoning, ending licences at short notice breaches legal certainty and proportionality, the measure lacks the urgency Article 62 of the Constitution requires, and no refund plus no compensation amounts to a genuine confiscation. The R$200,000 daily fine for missing the refund steps, she wrote, oversteps.
The limits matter as much as the headline. It is a single judge’s decision that the full 3rd Panel must confirm, four federal authorities including the regulator SPA and the Central Bank have been summoned, and the government is expected to appeal or seek suspension, as it did with Stake. As of 4 November Betsul was still offline.
Sealed files and a Supreme Court that has not ruled
On 5 November NEXT.io reported that every document used to draft MP 1.394 has been classified for five years. The restriction was signed on 24 September, the day before publication, by the Ministry of Justice’s Secretary for Digital Rights, citing public health and financial stability. The Finance Ministry answered a freedom-of-information request about impact studies by saying the information does not exist. Operators preparing claims for roughly R$2.5 billion in authorisation payments have asked the court to order the files produced; the Attorney General’s Office has already rejected compensation requests. At the 3 November hearing the Finance Ministry defended the ban while describing the regulated market it replaced as a significant advancement, and IBJR, whose members account for more than 70% of regulated volume, asked to join the case.
The calendar from here
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 25 September | MP 1.394 published and in force; supporting documents classified for five years |
| 6 October | Licensed sites offline; R$1.325 billion to be returned to about 26.5 million bettors |
| 25 October | The 85 federal authorisations extinguished, no refund of the R$30 million each |
| 3 November | STF hearing before Justice Fux, no ruling; TRF3 interim relief for CDA Gaming |
| 9 November | The MP starts blocking the agenda in Congress |
| 23 November | End of the initial 60-day period; one 60-day extension possible |
What it means for operators and suppliers
There is now a court route back online, and it is narrow: a single-judge order for one company is not a reopening, and anyone restoring a Brazilian lobby on the strength of it should expect the decision to be tested within days. The structural facts have not moved. The regulated channel paid R$9.91 billion in federal taxes between January and August 2026, 14 of 20 Série A clubs carried a betting brand as main sponsor on deals worth about R$1.03 billion a year, and H2 Gambling Capital estimates that about R$25 billion a year of regulated play moves to illegal platforms while the ban lasts. Flutter has ceased sports betting and iGaming in Brazil, telling the SEC the closure removes about US$70 million of 2026 revenue; Betano is evaluating legal action.
The practical advice is the same as a month ago: keep the Brazilian entity, the certified catalogue and the BRL payment rails ready rather than dismantled, because a court ruling, a lapse in Congress or an amended text could each arrive at short notice. Operators running a multi-market stack for the Americas can keep Brazilian content switched off through API-level market controls and reopen it without a new integration; our Brazil page covers the local requirements and the licence jurisdictions guide the alternatives operators are weighing. We will update this story after 23 November.
Sources: NEXT.io: Casa de Apostas back online after court exemption (4 November 2026); NEXT.io: Brazil seals the documents behind the ban (5 November 2026); NEXT.io: Brazil’s betting sites go offline (6 October 2026); Gambling Law Index: MP 1.394 explained (28 September 2026); Latin Times: the ban and football sponsorships (7 October 2026); Press The Game: the shutdown and the refund calendar (7 October 2026).
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