Brazil's 2026 betting ban explained (MP 1,394/2026)

What does Brazil’s betting ban prohibit?

As of October 1, 2026, fixed-odds betting is illegal throughout Brazil. Provisional Measure (Medida Provisória, MP) 1,394/2026, published in an extra edition of the Official Gazette (Diário Oficial da União) on September 25, 2026, prohibits “the operation, offer, intermediation and advertising” of fixed-odds betting, online or in person, “including when carried out by an agent based abroad” that offers bets to people in Brazil (art. 1).

Brazilian law treats both sports betting and online casino games as fixed-odds betting (apostas de quota fixa), and the MP names both: bets on “real sports events” and on “virtual online-game events” (art. 1 §1). Other lottery types authorized by law, such as the federal lotteries run by Caixa Econômica Federal, are not affected (art. 1 §2). The measure, officially “Medida Provisória nº 1.394”, took effect on publication (art. 30), ending the licensed market that the Ministry of Finance’s Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas, SPA) had overseen since January 1, 2025.

Key dates

Dates through October 14: government calendar reported by the federal news agency Agência Brasil. License end date: art. 4.

The key articles in plain English

What happens to the 85 licenses and the R$30 million fees

Brazil’s 85 federal betting authorizations end 30 days after the MP’s publication (around October 25, 2026), with no refund of their fees (art. 4). As of October 1, 2026, the SPA’s official list, retitled “Empresas Autorizadas até a vigência da MP nº 1.394/2026” (companies authorized until MP 1,394/2026 took effect), shows 85 authorizations held by 82 companies, covering 188 brands.

Each authorization carried a R$30 million grant fee, about R$2.55 billion in total, Agência Brasil reported; the government’s explanatory memo notes the fees were already fully paid. Operators that breach their wind-down duties face penalties of up to R$2 billion per infraction (art. 12).

How the ban is being enforced

By September 29, 2026, the MJSP and the SPA had asked for 5,209 betting domains to be taken down and Anatel had ordered 2,387 blocked, Agência Brasil reported.

• Apps and platforms. 186 betting apps were notified for removal from Apple’s and Google’s stores by October 6, and eight platforms, including Google, Meta and TikTok, got 10 days to remove betting ads.
• Payments. Resolution 590 of September 28 from the Central Bank of Brazil (Banco Central do Brasil, BCB) requires banks and payment institutions, since the MP’s publication, to block betting transactions except those needed to wind down and refund bettors. Resolutions 595, 596 and 597 of September 30 added it to the TED, boleto and Pix rules.
• A new committee. Decree 13,128/2026, also of September 28, set up the inter-agency enforcement committee the MP created (arts. 24–27). Coordinated by the Casa Civil, the president’s chief-of-staff office, it includes the SPA, the Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal), the BCB, the Federal Police and Anatel.
• Criminal penalties. On September 28, the government sent Congress a bill, PL 5,477/2026, that would make it a crime to operate fixed-odds betting (4 to 6 years in prison) or to advertise bets or recruit bettors (2 to 4 years); as of October 1, 2026, it had not been voted on.

Why the government says it acted

In its explanatory memo (Exposição de Motivos 2114/2026) of September 24, 2026, the government argues that the existing tools “have not been able to ensure adequate protection” of health, consumers, children and adolescents and the financial stability of families. It cites household losses of “tens of billions of reais” in 2025 and gambling disorders, and proposes “a prohibition regime throughout the national territory” in place of licensing.

It also estimates lost government revenue: R$1.541 billion in 2026, R$5.15 billion in 2027 and R$5.33 billion in 2028, plus R$268.8 million in inspection fees over three years.

Legal challenges and what happens next

As of October 1, 2026, no court has suspended the ban, but it isn’t final.

• Supreme Court. On September 28, 2026, the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute for Responsible Gaming (IBJR) asked Justice Luiz Fux of the Supreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal, STF) to suspend the MP. Fux is the rapporteur of pending constitutional challenges (ADIs 7,721, 7,723 and 7,749) to the 2023 betting law. The Attorney General’s Office (Advocacia-Geral da União, AGU) asked for 72 hours to respond. As of October 1, the case was with Fux for a decision, with no ruling.
• Congress. The MP’s joint committee of deputies and senators was named on September 30. According to the Congress website, the voting window runs to November 23, 2026 and can be extended once by 60 days; from November 9, the MP locks the voting agenda under an urgency regime. Congress can approve, change or reject the MP; if it isn’t approved in time, it lapses.

What the ban means for you

As of October 1, 2026, you can’t legally place a fixed-odds bet in Brazil, but you can still recover money held by a formerly licensed site.

• Withdraw by October 5. Deposits stopped on September 25 (art. 7); under the government calendar, you can withdraw until 11:59 p.m. on October 5, 2026, and later refunds come through the operator’s bank, as our guide on how to get your money back from betting sites explains.
• Offshore sites are covered too. The ban reaches operators abroad, banks must refuse betting payments, and the MP’s refund rules protect only customers of formerly licensed operators. The MP doesn’t penalize bettors, but Brazil’s misdemeanors law (Decree-Law 3,688/1941, art. 50) sets fines of R$2,000 to R$200,000 for anyone “found participating” in games of chance, including online, and counts sports bets as games of chance; we found no data on its use against individual bettors. Don’t try to get around the ban: any site still taking bets from Brazil is operating illegally.
• Help is available. If betting has become hard to stop, see where to get help for gambling problems in Brazil.

Prediction markets fall under a separate ban

National Monetary Council (Conselho Monetário Nacional, CMN) Resolution 5,298/2026, in force since May 4, 2026, bans offering and trading in Brazil derivative contracts tied to sports, online games and political, electoral, social, cultural or entertainment events, including contracts traded abroad and offered in Brazil. In March 2026, the SPA said it had not formally authorized any Brazilian company to operate prediction markets, and on April 24 the government announced that Anatel had taken down at least 27 such platforms, including Kalshi and Polymarket, on the Ministry of Finance’s orders. See whether prediction markets are legal in Brazil.

The bottom line

As of October 1, 2026, sports betting and online casino games are banned in Brazil under MP 1,394/2026, and licensed sites are shutting down: withdraw by 11:59 p.m. on October 5 or wait for the automatic refund. The STF could still suspend it, and it lapses if Congress doesn’t approve it by November 23, 2026 or an extended deadline. For how Brazil got here, see the Brazil betting law timeline.

This guide is general information about Brazilian law as of October 1, 2026, not legal or tax advice.