Brazilian ministries dispute Minas Gerais betting-advertising decree before STF

Brazil's Finance Ministry and Sports Ministry have given the Supreme Federal Court (STF) opposing views on a Minas Gerais state decree restricting betting advertising, in submissions to a case brought by the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL). Both ministries told the court that Provisional Measure 1.394 had removed the basis of the action, but they differed on the merits, according to the two submissions. The case, ADI 8014, is before rapporteur minister Flávio Dino.

The action challenges Decree 49.279 of 20 August 2026, issued by the state of Minas Gerais. The decree bans advertising, promotion and sponsorship by fixed-odds betting operators on state public property and at events promoted or supported by the state executive, and also covers adult content platforms.

The Finance Ministry's submission was signed by minister Dario Durigan on 27 October at 19h24 and forwarded the PGFN Information 763/2026 and Technical Note 7012/2026/MF from the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA). The ministry's main request is that the action be dismissed without ruling on the merits because its object has been lost. On the merits, analysed only on an eventual basis, the National Treasury Attorney's Office (PGFN) said the formal constitutionality of the decree would be questionable, stating that the state text appears to enter matters within the Union's exclusive competence over lotteries and commercial advertising.

The SPA technical note, signed by secretary Daniele Correa Cardoso on 15 October, said Minas Gerais apparently confuses the Union's legislative competence with the state's material competence. The Finance Ministry thus agrees with ANJL's central argument, while asking the STF not to rule on the question. ANJL is represented by lawyers Pietro Cardia Lorenzoni and Bernardo Cavalcanti Freire.

The Sports Ministry replied earlier, in Official Letter 228/2026/MESP/GAB signed by minister Paulo Henrique Perna Cordeiro on 21 October at 16h10. It forwarded Information 00141/2026/CONJUR-MESP/CGU/AGU, drawn up on 13 October and approved the following day by legal adviser Guilherme Assunção Fagundes. The opinion distinguishes the Union's power to legislate on draws from the states' autonomy to regulate the use of their own property and structures, noting that the decree does not ban betting advertising across Minas Gerais but only on public property and at events supported by the executive, and also regulates the use of public funds in those actions.

The Sports Ministry's legal consultancy said it did not identify sufficient grounds for the decree's full unconstitutionality and considered the preservation of the rules on state property and funds legally defensible, provided they do not create general restrictions on economic activity or enter the Union's competence. It was more cautious on the loss of object, saying the substantial emptying of part of the requests does not necessarily end the action, because the Minas Gerais decree remains formally in force and the provisional measure is subject to the constitutional regime for conversion into law.

The opinion consolidates responses from several ministry areas. The Directorate for Monitoring and Evaluation of Sports Betting (DMAAE), part of the National Secretariat for Sports Betting (SNAEDE), rejected ANJL's arguments in turn: the difference between federal and state operators no longer exists because all were banned, the Minas Gerais restriction has become less broad than the federal one, and the request to exclude operators authorised by the Finance Ministry lost meaning with the extinction of licences on 25 October. The DMAAE added that if the provisional measure is not converted into law, the previous framework may be restored, which would require a new opinion from the directorate.

The National Football Secretariat (SNFDT) only recorded the existence of the provisional measure without giving a legal opinion, while the National Secretariat for Sports Excellence (SNE) noted that article 4 of the Minas Gerais decree revoked the provision in the state lottery (Lemg) regulation that listed fixed-odds betting as a state modality, so Minas Gerais removed betting from its own lottery before the provisional measure. The Governance Directorate (DGGEA) said it is working on a structure to monitor and account for lottery and betting funds allocated to sport, including transfers to states and the Federal District, part of which ceased to exist with the ban.

The PGFN also conditioned its argument, saying the action would have lost its object while the ban remains in force. The provisional measure is challenged in separate ADIs under rapporteur minister Luiz Fux and depends on Congress; it blocks the agenda from 9 November and lapses on 4 March 2027 if not voted.

The STF's request to the Finance Ministry was received on 22 September with a 30-day deadline. The PGFN opened its submission arguing it was timely, saying the Electronic Information System (SEI) was down between 21 October at 14h02 and 24 October at 21h18 because of a version update of the technical infrastructure and PHP. Attorney-general Anelize Lenzi Ruas de Almeida also sent a letter to the president of the National Council of Justice, Edson Fachin, asking for expired deadlines to be returned. The documents contain inconsistencies: the letter to the CNJ, dated 23 October, says the SEI had been inoperable since 22 October, while the PGFN information says 21 October; the submission invokes an extension to the first business day after the outage, Monday 26 October, but the signatures are dated Tuesday 27 October; and the SPA technical note had been signed since 15 October, before the outage.

The Sports Ministry received an equivalent request through Official Letter 22378/2026, issued after the Finance Ministry's. Its opinion had been approved since 14 October and the reply went out on 21 October, two hours after the start of the outage alleged by the PGFN. The ministry processes its cases in another SEI instance, hosted by the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, which was not affected.

The longest part of the SPA technical note describes the federal regulatory framework in force until the provisional measure, listing more than 20 ordinances and normative instructions issued since 2024 and detailing operator obligations: facial recognition at authentication, which the SPA said prevented minors from taking part; deposit and time limits, pauses and individual and centralised self-exclusion; monitoring of risk behaviour and suspension of high-risk bettors; warning phrases from the Finance Ministry and an 18+ seal; joint liability for advertising by affiliates and influencers; and blocking of beneficiaries of the Novo Desenrola and Fies renegotiation programmes. The SPA concluded that the federal model sought to reconcile authorised operation with bettor protection through restrictions on advertising practices rather than a general ban.

The constitutionality of the provisional measure itself is to be debated at a public hearing in ADI 8027, convened by Fux for 3 November.