Brazilian Congress president extends betting ban measure by 60 days
Regulation2 min read
Brazil’s Congress president, Davi Alcolumbre, extended the provisional measure prohibiting fixed-odds betting for a further 60 days, with the decision published on 11 November. The extension gives lawmakers until February to consider the measure, which would end betting authorisations, block websites and apps, and return user balances; the government estimates the ban would reduce revenue by BRL12bn.
Brazil’s provisional ban on fixed-odds betting has been extended by another 60 days by Congress president Davi Alcolumbre. The decision appeared in the federal official gazette on Wednesday 11.
The extension gives lawmakers until February to consider the measure, which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued on 25 September. Congress must approve it before it expires for the ban to become permanent.
The measure provides for betting operators’ authorisations to end, websites and apps to be blocked and user balances to be returned. The government estimates the ban would reduce tax revenue by BRL12,000m if confirmed.
Lawmakers submitted 99 amendments before the deadline in October. Possible changes to the original text and the ban’s economic and social effects remain to be debated.
The measure has been under constitutional urgency since Monday, but the joint committee responsible for examining it has not yet been formed. The committee must debate the amendments and prepare an opinion before votes in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate.
The ban’s constitutionality is being considered by the Supreme Federal Court in four direct actions filed by organisations linked to the betting sector. Justice Luiz Fux held public hearings on its effects, hearing representatives of government, the betting market, sports organisations and civil society.
On Monday, Fux ordered a nationwide suspension of court proceedings challenging the measure’s constitutionality. The attorney general’s office had requested the suspension, citing a risk of legal uncertainty from differing decisions in the courts. The suspension will remain in force until the court issues a final ruling. The full court must still consider the suspension and rule on the four constitutional challenges.