Brazil sports ministry tells STF betting MP has emptied ANJL action against Minas decree

Brazil's Ministry of Sport has told the Supreme Court that Provisional Measure 1.394/2026, which banned fixed-odds betting nationwide, has removed the grounds for the ANJL's challenge to Minas Gerais decree 49.279/2026, according to a legal opinion. The opinion, Informações nº 00141/2026 from the ministry's legal consultancy (CONJUR/MESP), was signed on 13 October and approved the following day by the ministry's legal consultant, Guilherme Assunção Fagundes. The case, ADI 8.014, is reported by minister Flávio Dino. The ANJL is represented by lawyers Pietro Cardia Lorenzoni and Bernardo Cavalcanti Freire.

Decree 49.279/2026 was published in the state's official gazette on 21 August 2026. It bars advertising, publicity, commercial promotion and sponsorship by fixed-odds betting operators and adult content platforms on state public property and at events promoted or supported by Minas Gerais' executive branch. It also restricts the use of public funds for such activity and revokes the provision in the Minas Gerais state lottery (Lemg) regulation that listed fixed-odds betting among state lottery modalities.

In its action, the ANJL argues that the decree encroaches on the Union's exclusive competence to legislate on lotteries and commercial advertising under article 22, items XX and XXIX, of the Constitution, breaches the principle of legality by addressing through an infra-legal act a matter reserved to law, and harms free competition and equal treatment. According to the association, the rule targets operators authorised by the Ministry of Finance while state operators remain free to carry out the same advertising practices. The ANJL seeks a full preliminary suspension of the decree or, in the alternative, of articles 1 and 3, as well as a conforming interpretation excluding federal operators from its scope.

The ministry's executive secretariat consulted its technical units to answer the court. The Directorate for Monitoring and Evaluation of Sports Betting (DMAAE), linked to the National Secretariat for Sports Betting and Economic Development of Sport (SNAEDE), produced the central analysis, which was then followed by SNAEDE itself, the National Secretariat for Football and Defence of Fans' Rights, the Directorate for Governance, Strategic Management and Evaluation, and the National Secretariat for Sporting Excellence.

The DMAAE's argument is that the provisional measure changed the whole picture: the alleged discrimination between federal and state operators no longer exists, since both are barred from advertising and will have their authorisations extinguished; the competence conflict has disappeared because the Union itself prohibited all betting advertising, making the Minas restriction less broad than the federal one; and the request for a conforming interpretation loses its object with the extinction of federal authorisations on 25 October. The directorate concluded that since 6 October no fixed-odds betting advertising would be lawful anywhere in the country, with or without the Minas Gerais decree.

The ministry recorded two reservations that weaken the argument: the Minas Gerais decree remains formally in force because the provisional measure did not revoke it, and the measure has only temporary effect. In the DMAAE's words, if it is not converted into law, the previous framework could be restored. CONJUR therefore avoided expressly asking the court to recognise that the action has lost its object. The opinion states that the provisional measure is a relevant supervening fact but that this does not necessarily end the object of the action, an assessment that would fall to the Supreme Court.

The provisional measure is itself the subject of actions at the Supreme Court, including ADI 8.027, also filed by the ANJL and assigned to minister Luiz Fux. The Ministry of Sport's submission therefore rests on a rule whose constitutionality is under discussion in the same court and whose fate depends on Congress. The statement that no betting advertising would be lawful in the country also coexists with an exception created by the government: betting advertising at the FIFA Women's World Cup 2027, supported by Law nº 15.421/2026 and SPA/MF Ordinance nº 2.596/2026.

On the merits, CONJUR went beyond the procedural question and argued that there are insufficient grounds to declare the Minas Gerais decree wholly unconstitutional. Citing the 2020 rulings in ADPFs 492 and 493 and ADI 4.986, reported by Gilmar Mendes, the opinion argued that the decree does not prohibit betting advertising across the whole of Minas Gerais but is limited to state public property and events supported by the executive, which could be read as an exercise of the state's administrative autonomy. The ministry added that application of the decree cannot create general restrictions on economic activity or encroach on the Union's legislative competence, especially on public property exploited by private parties or at private events with state support.

The document also notes that the Directorate for Governance reports it is still structuring planning, monitoring and accountability mechanisms for sports resources from lotteries and fixed-odds betting, including transfers to the states. With the legal consultant's approval, the file returned to the sports minister's office, which is to forward the information to the Supreme Court. Flávio Dino will decide whether the action has lost its object or whether he will examine the ANJL's request for a preliminary measure. Until the provisional measure is voted on by Congress and ruled on by the Supreme Court, the dispute over the Minas Gerais decree remains open.