Brazilian Congress weighs Lula measure banning online betting
Regulation2 min read
Brazil’s Congress is considering Provisional Measure 1.394/2026, which suspends the country’s authorised fixed-odds betting framework and prohibits online betting and casino operations. The measure gained urgency status on 9 November, but the examining committee has not been established; the initial deliberation period ends on 23 November. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has defended the ban, arguing that it redirects household spending towards everyday goods.
Brazil’s Congress is reviewing a measure to end online gambling, following President Lula da Silva’s suspension of the Bet Law. The bill is already in force and has attracted 99 proposed amendments. The measure became an urgent item on 9 November, though the mixed congressional committee examining it has not yet been established.
The provisional measure, signed on 25 September, dismantled Brazil’s authorised fixed-odds betting framework and banned sports betting and online casino operations, their offering, intermediation and advertising, as well as services supplied to customers in Brazil by overseas businesses. The legislation also curbs betting-related payments, advertising and sponsorship and blocks websites and apps.
Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux granted an appeal suspending all legal challenges to Lula’s measure, saying conflicting rulings risked creating legal uncertainty while Congress decides its legality.
The president said in a nationally televised address on 8 November that he was prohibiting betting to safeguard household budgets and bring spending back to necessities. He argued that greater consumption would also help supermarkets, other retailers and manufacturers. The address offered no economic figures quantifying the shift in spending from betting to other goods.
The mixed committee has members but lacks both a chair and a rapporteur; its members were appointed on 30 September. Urgency does not by itself halt the legislative agenda: committee scrutiny must come before the text is read in the Chamber of Deputies plenary. Congress faces a choice between approving, changing or rejecting the ban. The initial deliberation period ends on 23 November, according to the official legislative record; the mixed committee must give its opinion before the Chamber of Deputies and Senate vote.