SindiBets SP, AMIG and ABRAJOGO seek speaking role at Brazil betting hearing

SindiBets SP, AMIG and ABRAJOGO filed a request with Brazil's Supreme Federal Court on 27 October 2026 to take part in a public hearing on Provisional Measure 1,394/2026, which prohibits fixed-odds betting, according to the filing. The request was lodged in ADI 8.027, the action brought by the Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL) against the measure, which was issued on 25 September. The hearing is scheduled for 3 November at 10am in the Second Panel's session room.

The measure bars the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting and ends, within 30 days, the authorisations granted by the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA/MF). SindiBets SP represents 53 of the 85 companies authorised by the SPA, which the filing says are directly affected by the extinction of the authorisations. AMIG brings together more than 1,400 professionals and would present the labour dimension of the measure, including dismissals that have already occurred and their costs for companies, social security, the FGTS severance fund and the Fundo de Amparo ao Trabalhador. ABRAJOGO represents international operators and technology suppliers linked to foreign investment in the sector.

On 26 October, Justice Luiz Fux granted requests from the Advocacia-Geral da União, ANJL and the amici curiae and scheduled the public hearing. Twenty-six participants have been admitted, among them plaintiffs in connected actions, executive bodies, representative entities and football clubs. The three entities had already sought admission to the case as amici curiae on 24 October, with a technical and economic memorandum on the fiscal, economic, health, sporting and labour effects of the measure. That request has not yet been considered.

In the petition, the entities argue that the public hearing, provided for in Law 9.868/1999 and the court's internal rules, serves to hear people with experience and authority on the matter and does not depend on prior admission to the case. They cite the Ministry of Finance, which is on the list of speakers without being a party or an amicus curiae. The document also notes that the rules guarantee participation by different currents of opinion and that the order convening the hearing set no deadline for indicating speakers, which the entities say makes the request timely. According to the entities, their contribution is not represented among those admitted.

The entities point to material obtained under the Access to Information Law as their main asset: responses from the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Revenue stating that no impact study of the prohibition exists, the Sistema de Gestão de Apostas (SIGAP) series on contributions, gross revenue and self-exclusions, and federal revenue by revenue code. According to the entities, this data has not reached the case by another route.

The entities ask Fux to consider their admission as amici curiae before 3 November and, regardless of that, to allow them to speak at the hearing, with a joint presentation by a single lawyer within a time the justice sets. If speaking is not possible, they ask that a written memorandum be added to the case file together with the hearing records and that their representatives be allowed to attend the session in person. The petition is signed by lawyers Ana Bárbara Costa Teixeira, Laura Beatriz de Souza Morganti and Gustavo Corrêa Godinho.