STF hears 34 participants on MP 1.394/2026 as Brazil’s licensed betting market stays offline

The Supreme Federal Court (STF) will hear 34 participants on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, in a public session about MP 1.394/2026, the provisional measure that suspended Brazil’s licensed fixed‑odds betting market. Football clubs, federal ministries, industry associations and the Attorney General’s Office (Advocacia‑Geral da União, AGU) are on the speaking list; the court does not plan to issue a ruling at the hearing.

Who will speak and how the list grew

Justice Luiz Fux issued the original order on 26 October naming 26 participants. The Ministry of Sport and the Brazilian Olympic Committee (Comitê Olímpico do Brasil, COB) were added on 27 October, BNLData reported. Six further participants were added on Sunday, 1 November, at the AGU’s request: the Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Justice and Public Security; the Brazilian Supermarkets Association (Abras); the Brazilian Paralympic Committee; the players’ federation Fenapaf; and Grêmio.

The AGU had argued the initial list leaned heavily toward sport and betting. SBT News reported that clubs and betting companies made up 17 of the original 26 names. The AGU also proposed adding churches, banks and consumer bodies, according to iGaming Business, but none of those groups were included in the final roster.

Under the STF schedule, each participant will be allotted ten minutes. The morning session is dominated by clubs: Flamengo opens at 10:10, followed by nine more teams including Corinthians, São Paulo and Fluminense, then the Brazilian Football Confederation (Confederação Brasileira de Futebol, CBF) and the COB. The afternoon programme begins with the AGU at 14:00 and continues with the finance and sports ministries, the Prosecutor General’s Office and industry associations Associação Nacional de Jogos Legais (ANJL) and Instituto Brasileiro de Jurisprudência e Regulação (IBJR).

No individual operator was invited to speak, so the licensed market’s representation will rest with its trade associations.

What the court will decide on Tuesday

Justice Fux called the hearing instead of immediately ruling on the injunction ANJL and IBJR have sought in ADI 8.027. Those associations asked the court to suspend the MP or, if suspension is denied, to grant licensed operators at least six months to wind down. Fux has set no date for a decision.

His 26 October order also channels the MP into three other constitutional challenges and three older cases contesting Law 14.790/2023, the statute that established the licensed regime. In granting the AGU’s request to expand participation, Fux noted the court is already familiar with the social harms attributed to betting and has invoked those harms in his own votes, SBT News reported. In August he voted to keep running land‑based games of chance a criminal offence.

Any single‑justice action by Fux would be referred to the full court, which usually sits in a week‑long virtual session.

Economic and market impacts cited to the court

Clubs supplied the clearest commercial figures. Economist Cesar Grafietti’s Relatório Convocados, cited by UOL, recorded R$1.03bn in betting sponsorship revenue for top‑flight teams in 2025.

Operators and suppliers have already reported immediate effects. Entain’s Brazil net gaming revenue fell 36% in the third quarter of 2026; the company had expected Brazil to contribute about 5% of its 2026 online net gaming revenue. Evolution has temporarily closed its Brazil studio. Lower‑court remedies have narrowed: Stake’s injunction lasted 24 hours before a federal appeals court suspended it.

Channelisation and illicit supply are focal points of the debate. ANJL president Plínio Lemos Jorge has cited more than 30,000 active unauthorised sites. The presidency’s communications office reported that 16,627 illegal sites were referred for blocking between 25 September and 9 October.

The legislative clock and possible outcomes

Congress must deliberate on the provisional measure by 23 November 2026; from 9 November the MP locks the agenda of the chamber where it sits. The deadline may be extended once by 60 days, and the year‑end recess pauses the count. At the time of the hearing the joint congressional committee required to review the MP had still not been installed. Lawmakers have tabled 99 amendments; most would preserve sports betting while removing online casino provisions.

A court suspension remains possible but has no set timetable. If the MP lapses without congressional action, acts performed under an expired provisional measure remain valid unless Congress regulates their effects within 60 days, which means extinguished authorisations would not automatically be restored. Licensed operators therefore remain offline pending either judicial relief or parliamentary resolution.

Tuesday’s hearing will show which arguments Justice Fux regards as central before the court or Congress takes the next step.

“The court already knows betting’s social harms,” Fux wrote when granting the AGU’s request to broaden participation, SBT News reported.

ANJL president Plínio Lemos Jorge has warned of the volume of unauthorised sites, citing more than 30,000 active illegal operators.