The clock is ticking in Brazil
Bring back sports betting or ban only online casino: the 94 amendments waiting in Congress
The commission that must process the closing of bets has not yet met.
Brazil closed its online betting just over a month ago, but the story is far from over. Provisional Measure 1394/2026, which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed on September 25 and which the Brazilian press baptized as the "MP of the end of bets", accumulates 94 amendments in Congress. Some propose to return sports betting to the market and others, to maintain the ban only for online casinos. The problem is that, for now, no one has sat down to debate them.
It is worth remembering where we come from. Brazil opened its regulated betting market in January 2025, following the law that Lula sanctioned at the end of 2023. Less than two years later, the provisional measure revoked all licenses, banned advertising and forced platforms to close on October 6 and return balances to players. At the time , we wondered to what extent the ban was credible. The large international groups already reflect this in their accounts: Flutter, owner of FanDuel and PokerStars, includes the closure of Betfair Brazil in its third-quarter results.
A provisional measure comes into force as soon as it is published, but it needs Congress to turn it into law to remain alive. The processing begins in a mixed commission of deputies and senators, which must issue its report before the plenary sessions of the House and Senate vote. Its members were appointed on September 30, but on October 29 the official system of Congress still showed it as "pending installation".
In the meantime, the amendments have been piling up. 99 were presented, of which their authors withdrew five. Among the 94 that are still standing are proposals to bring back sports betting, to limit the ban on online casino games and to change the rules that apply to companies in the sector. In other words, in Congress itself there are those who do not consider the market closed.
The calendar is beginning to tighten. On November 9, 45 days after its publication without having been voted on, the measure enters an emergency regime and blocks the agenda of the chamber in which it is being processed. On November 23 , the first 60-day period ends, which is automatically extended for another 60. The deadlines, in addition, are suspended during the parliamentary recess, so the outcome in Congress could go to 2027.
The scenarios are clear. If Congress approves it without changes, it becomes directly law. If it introduces amendments, the text goes back to the president, who can sanction or veto it. If the measure lapses, it loses its effects from the day it was published, although Congress would have 60 days to approve a legislative decree regulating what happened while it was in force. Without that decree, those situations would continue to be governed by the provisional measure itself.
The battle is also being fought in the courts. Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux is the rapporteur of the appeal of unconstitutionality filed by the National Association of Games and Lotteries against the measure. On November 3 , it brought together 34 participants in a public hearing, including 11 soccer clubs such as Flamengo, Corinthians, São Paulo and Cruzeiro, the Brazilian Football Confederation and the Brazilian Olympic Committee. The government defended the ban through the Office of the Attorney General of the Union, which cited a 140% increase in public health care linked to gambling between 2018 and 2025, and social costs of 30,600 million reais per year. The hearing decides nothing: Fux has yet to rule on the request to suspend the measure.
All this is happening in a country that had already closed another door. In April, the National Monetary Council banned contracts on sporting events, online gambling and elections, and the government blocked 27 websites, including Polymarket and Kalshi. Today, therefore, in Brazil there is neither legal online betting nor predictive markets. What comes out of those 94 amendments, and Fux's decision, will tell whether the closure is definitive or just a parenthesis.
