A legal opinion filed by Paulo Horn argues that Brazilian municipalities may operate lotteries as a public service. Requested by the National Association of Municipal and State Lotteries, the opinion interprets the Supreme Federal Court’s 2020 rulings as ending the federal government’s monopoly on lottery operations.
The interpretation could affect municipalities seeking to establish lottery services and access related revenue.
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Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court suspended its hearing on a challenge to municipal laws governing lotteries and sports betting on 4 November 2026. President Edson Fachin agreed to consider the case alongside other proceedings on betting, lotteries and games of chance; the court has set no date for resuming the hearing.
On Wednesday the 4th, the full bench of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) halted its consideration of ADPF 1212 once the report had been read and the oral arguments delivered. The court has not fixed a date for the proceedings to pick up again.
Brazil's STF has accepted Itaquaquecetuba and Abrasf as participants in ADPF 1.212, bringing approved participation requests to 14. The case examines whether municipalities can establish and operate public lotteries. Justice Nunes Marques previously suspended municipal laws authorising lotteries and gambling and ordered operations to stop.
It was reported that TJRN declared Jaçanã’s municipal lottery law unconstitutional. The ruling follows the Supreme Court position that municipalities cannot establish, regulate or operate lottery services.
Macapá's city council approved a bill to establish a municipal lottery and fixed-odds betting service, LOTMAC, according to the report. The vote conflicts with an interim Supreme Federal Court ruling suspending municipal laws authorising lottery and sports betting services; that ruling has yet to be considered by the court's full bench.
Caixa Econômica Federal filed an amicus curiae submission in Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court case ADPF 1212, contesting municipal lottery systems, according to the report. The case, brought by the Solidariedade party, challenges laws in 13 municipalities; it argues municipalities lack authority to establish lotteries and seeks a ruling against the laws. A preliminary injunction issued in December 2025 suspended municipal lottery and sports-betting operations nationwide.