ABRAJOGO, Sindibets and AMIG challenge Brazil betting measure at STF

ABRAJOGO, Sindibets SP and AMIG have filed a joint request with Brazil's Supreme Federal Court to be admitted as amici curiae in a case challenging Provisional Measure 1,394/2026, according to the filing. The request accompanies a technical and economic memorial supporting the injunction in ADI 8.024, brought by ANSEJA against the measure. The case is assigned to Justice Luiz Fux. The petition runs to 37 pages and was signed on 24 October, the day before Article 4 of the measure extinguished all federal, state and district fixed-odds betting authorisations.

The entities state that their representation is complementary. Sindibets says its territorial base covers 53 of the 85 companies authorised by the SPA/MF. AMIG brings together more than 1,400 members whose income depends on the sector. ABRAJOGO says it has represented international operators and providers for more than 10 years and took part in the debates since Law 13,756/2018. The entities also say they filed a complaint with the TCU about the absence of fiscal instruction for the measure, and that ABRAJOGO sent the SPA/MF a technical note on 17 August on the design of online games, with comparisons to Ontario, Alberta and the United Kingdom.

The central point of the memorial is the absence of a prior impact study. A freedom-of-information request submitted to the Ministry of Finance on 20 September received, on 24 September at 17:33, the day before the measure was issued, the answer "Informação Inexistente". The technical units identified no studies, notes or estimates on the economic, fiscal, regulatory or social effects of a prohibition. Cetad, part of the Federal Revenue, said its only documents on the subject are two notes from 2026; one, from January, projected higher revenue from raising the rate on GGR: R$255.15m in 2026, R$775.05m in 2027 and R$1.245bn in 2028.

The measure's explanatory memorandum estimates a loss of R$1.541bn in 2026, R$5.150bn in 2027 and R$5.330bn in 2028. According to the Congress's technical note on budgetary adequacy, that estimate sets out neither premises nor methodology. The entities argue the figure is understated: revenue exclusive to fixed-odds betting alone totalled R$2.48bn in the first half of 2026, about R$4.97bn annualised, before IRPJ, CSLL, PIS/Cofins and ISS. The memorial also notes the timing: the measure was issued one day after the government announced contingency and blocking of about R$16bn in the budget. On the licensing liability, it says each operator paid R$30m for five years of authorisation and used just over 20 months, and that proportional restitution would be no less than R$1.6bn, a risk the explanatory memorandum does not address.

According to SPA/MF data obtained through freedom of information, legal allocations totalled R$2.49bn in the first half of 2026: sport received R$870m, tourism R$678m, public security R$329m and education R$242m. In 2025, allocations totalled R$4.53bn. A survey carried out for AMIG identified at least 36 companies with collective dismissals 10 days after the measure, with an estimated 3,600 direct and 2,000 indirect jobs affected. The entities calculate that dismissing 3,500 workers alone costs R$196.67m in severance, FGTS withdrawals and unemployment insurance, and interrupts R$24.5m in monthly wages. The explanatory memorandum, the text says, "não dedica uma única linha aos empregos".

On demand migration, the petition cites LegitBet monitoring showing the average number of links suspected of illegal offers rose from 77 per day between 8 and 23 September to 549 per day in the first week of October, peaking at 948 on 7 October, a day after authorised platforms went offline. The government had already sent 16,627 sites for blocking by 15 October. H2 Gambling Capital estimates that about R$25bn will continue to be bet, now outside the licensed market. The document also notes that IBIA recorded 25 suspicious betting alerts in Brazilian sport in 2025, against an average of 11 between 2021 and 2024, and says the measure disconnects this system midway through Brazil's accession to the Macolin Convention, which presupposes a regulated market.

As a less burdensome alternative, the entities propose that Caixa and the SPA/MF act as infrastructure anchors of the regulated market, centralising deposit limits, self-exclusion and identification of vulnerable people. They note that Caixa itself obtained authorisation to operate fixed-odds betting in 2025 and was chosen by the measure as depositary of unreturned balances. The text criticises the SPA for the lack of systematic publication of SIGAP data and argues for an independent regulatory agency, and proposes mandatory registration of the entire B2B supplier chain.

The entities ask for admission as amici curiae with the right to oral argument; for a monocratic grant of the injunction before 25 October or with retroactive effect to that date, suspending the measure until Congress deliberates or the merits are judged and restoring Law 14,790/2023 and the authorisations; in the alternative, suspension of at least Articles 4, 7, 14 and 16, paragraph 2; failing that, a transition regime of at least 180 days; and a request to the Finance, Revenue and Planning ministries for the calculation memory of the explanatory memorandum. The petition concludes: "Proibir não é proteger; regular é proteger". Justice Fux had signalled that he would decide on the actions after the second round. As of publication, no decision had been issued.