Minas Gerais defends public-property betting ad ban at STF and questions ANJL standing

The Minas Gerais government has told the Supreme Court that the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) lacks standing to bring ADI 8.014 against state decree 49.279/2026, which bars betting advertising and sponsorship on state public property, according to a petition. The petition, AGE/GAB/ASSGAB 879/2026, is dated 19 October and was signed electronically by governor Mateus Simões on 20 October. State attorney-general Fábio Murilo Nazar and prosecutors Arthur Pereira de Mattos Paixão Filho and Maria Cecília Ferreira Albrecht also signed it. The ANJL is represented by lawyers Pietro Cardia Lorenzoni and Bernardo Cavalcanti Freire.

Decree 49.279/2026, issued on 20 August, prohibits advertising, publicity and sponsorship by fixed-odds betting operators and adult-content platforms on state public property, at events promoted or supported by the executive, and on granted structures, and bars the use of public funds for such actions. Article 4 removed the fixed-odds modality from the regulation of the Minas Gerais State Lottery (Lemg).

Justice Flávio Dino, the rapporteur, denied a precautionary measure on 21 September. He found that the decree is limited to the use of state property and resources and falls within the reserve of administration, and said no one has an acquired right to sponsorship funded with public money.

On standing, the state argues that the ANJL has not shown it is a national class entity of a homogeneous category. It says the initial petition cites 23 companies with federal licences, while the list filed in the case contains 34 legal entities without indicating activity, licence or date of membership. The state identifies payment institutions Pagstar, TransferSmile and Zero, technology and intermediation companies Legitimuz, Stable Software and Paag, the production company SiGMA – Jericho Produções, and the Sistema Lotérico de Pernambuco, whose name suggests a link to a state lottery. It also notes that the association's statute names it the National Association of Games, Lotteries and Commercial Promotions and admits members licensed by any entity of the federation and by foreign jurisdictions, and that the initial petition reports members based in seven states, below the nine required by Supreme Court case law. Minas Gerais rejects the comparison with ADI 2.866, in which the criterion was relaxed because of the geographical concentration of salt production. It further alleges a lack of thematic relevance for the part concerning adult content and asks for the initial petition to be recognised as partly inapt for failing to challenge that part and article 4 specifically.

The state also argues that Provisional Measure 1.394/2026, published on 25 September, four days after Dino's decision, changed the context in which the action was brought. It says the measure revoked articles 1 to 21 of Law 14.790/2023, including the advertising provisions invoked by the ANJL; prohibited all advertising of the modality in the country; set a 10-day deadline for the removal of material; extinguished federal and state authorisations; and called on states to adopt enforcement measures under article 26. According to the state, this reduces the practical purpose of the requested relief because the same advertising would remain prohibited by the federal rule. The state acknowledges that the validity of the provisional measure is under discussion at the Supreme Court in ADIs 8.024, 8.027 and 8.028, under Justice Luiz Fux, and says the decree remains constitutionally sound even if the measure falls.

On the merits, the state argues that the governor acted as owner and manager of property and resources rather than as a regulator, and that there is no usurpation of the Union's exclusive competence over lotteries or over commercial advertising. It says the precedents cited by the ANJL concern state laws regulating third-party advertising in private media. The state concedes that the decree reaches events supported by the executive held in private locations and that its execution may affect concessionaires, advertisers and organisers, and says questions of expenses and contractual effects require concrete examination. It cites the CPI das Bets, a figure of about R$3bn of Bolsa Família funds spent on betting, and the precautionary referendum in ADIs 7.721 and 7.723.

On the LotoMinas case, the state says the Lemg notified the Portal LotoMinas operator on 21 August, the day the decree was published, to remove the fixed-odds vertical and drop the suffix bet from its name and domain; ordered immediate discontinuation of the vertical on 26 August; and was told by the company on 27 August that it had complied. According to the petition, the concessionaire argued it was not an operator agent because it acted under a state concession contract, and the Lemg rejected the argument. The state says payment of prizes and withdrawal of balances were guaranteed. Minas Gerais asks the court to dismiss the action in whole or in part and, on the merits, to rule it unfounded, and requests in the alternative modulation of effects with ex nunc effect so that measures already adopted are not undone.