TLDR
- Brazil’s deadline for licensed betting operators to shut down passed at 11:59 p.m. Brasília time on Oct. 5.
- The government’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court on Oct. 2 to strike down Brazil’s 2018 and 2023 betting laws.
- Operators must now redirect all traffic to the government site brasilsembets.gov.br.
- Industry groups say 83 companies paid 2.55 billion reais ($488 million) for licenses that end Oct. 25 without refunds.
- Justice Luiz Fux has not yet ruled on requests from operators and football clubs to suspend the ban.
Brazil’s licensed betting operators reached their final deadline to shut down at 11:59 p.m. Brasília time on Oct. 5. Their websites must now send users to a government page.
The shutdown follows Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026, which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued on Sept. 25. The measure bans online fixed-odds betting.
Players had until the deadline to withdraw their balances. Operators are now waiting on Supreme Federal Court Justice Luiz Fux, who is handling challenges to the measure.
Government Lawyers Turn Against Betting Laws
On Oct. 2, the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) asked the Supreme Court to strike down the 2018 law that legalized fixed-odds betting. It also asked the court to void most of the 2023 law that regulated it.
In a separate 2024 case, the same office had called the betting framework constitutional. Its new opinion says the regulated market proved that “the ‘dragon’ was untameable.”
The filing cites a roughly 140% rise in public health visits under gambling-disorder codes from January 2018 to December 2025. It admits the figure does not count individual patients and cannot all be tied to sports betting. It also points to record household debt and criminal groups using betting platforms to launder money.
Brazil’s central bank has already barred Pix payments, bank transfers and boletos for fixed-odds betting. Crypto, which unlicensed sites often use, falls outside those rules, trade outlet BNLData noted.
Industry and Football Clubs Push Back
The Finance Ministry has ordered operators to redirect all traffic to www.brasilsembets.gov.br. The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR) oppose the order.
The groups say redirecting is a form of blocking, since users see a warning page instead of an error message. They argue the government has no legal authority to use private domains this way.
They estimate the redirect could send about 100 million daily visits to the government portal. They called it “a true appropriation of private traffic.”
ANJL and IBJR asked Fux to rule before the midnight cutoff. They said 83 companies paid 2.55 billion reais ($488 million) for five-year licenses that end on Oct. 25 without refunds.
Flamengo, whose shirt sponsorship is worth about 268.5 million reais ($51 million) a season, filed its own urgent request. At least 22 other clubs have also gone to the court.
On election Sunday, 16 clubs, including Fluminense and Cruzeiro, asked Fux to suspend the measure. They also requested a public hearing on how the ban affects football.
Oct. 25 is also the date of the presidential runoff. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro took just over 56 million votes in Sunday’s first round, while Lula received nearly 54 million.
Bolsonaro called Lula’s measure “populist, hypocritical, and electioneering.” He said he backs a ban on online casino games but wants to keep sports betting legal.
On Monday, Polymarket gave Bolsonaro about 82% odds of winning in a market with over $173 million in volume. The platform is blocked in Brazil.
On Oct. 2, Fux gave the government 72 hours to respond to the challenges. As of the Oct. 5 deadline, he had not ruled on requests to suspend the ban.
