Brazil orders fixed-odds betting shutdown within 30 days

Via executive measure, the Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas do Ministério da Fazenda published Medida Provisória nº 1.394 (Provisional Measure No. 1,394) on 25 September 2026, banning fixed-odds betting nationally and ending existing authorizations after 30 days.

The measure has force of law on publication, but remains subject to congressional consideration under Article 62 of the Constitution. The official text does not identify a congressional timetable or a scheduled regulatory event.

Shutdown and authorization-extinction deadlines

The instrument prohibits the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds lotteries in physical or virtual form. Article 1 includes offers by an agent based abroad to a person in Brazil. The prohibition covers bets on real sporting events and virtual online games, while other lottery modalities authorized by law remain outside its scope.

Article 2 applies the measure to operations in the States and Federal District. Article 3 defines fixed-odds betting as placing a stated amount at risk for a prize determined by a multiplication factor.

New applicants face an immediate bar. Article 6 prohibits new concessions, permissions and authorizations from the publication date and provides that undecided applications are prejudiced.

Existing concessions, permissions and authorizations granted under Law No. 14,790 of 2023 are to be extinguished at the end of 30 days from publication. The text attributes that extinction to public interest and provides neither repayment of the outlay fee nor government compensation.

The transition imposes earlier obligations on operators and payment institutions. Ten days after publication, operators must disable websites and applications offering fixed-odds betting, including access through app stores, or face blocking. New deposits are prohibited from publication, subject to an exception for funds released from financial assets held for bettors when used exclusively to meet transition obligations.

Within two days after disabling access, operators must ensure liquidity for full refunds, send individualized bettor and account data to financial and payment institutions and provide the same information, together with proof of available funds, to the SPA. A daily R$200,000 fine applies until a breach is regularized.

Financial and payment institutions must transfer amounts owed within seven days of receiving the operator information, preferably to the original active account. They must also report completed and unsuccessful refunds to the SPA. Resources that cannot be returned through the ordinary process must be transferred to a specific account at Caixa Econômica Federal for later restitution to identified bettors.

Duties survive authorization extinction

The measure preserves obligations arising during the authorized period, including regulatory, tax, integrity, responsible-gaming and anti-money-laundering duties. Operators must retain activity, bettor, financial and prize-payment records for at least five years and continue reporting through the Sistema de Gestão de Apostas (Sigap).

The SPA may prescribe the form, deadlines and procedures for Sigap reporting. The text also keeps the Ministry of Fazenda’s supervisory and inspection powers over facts occurring while authorizations were in force, and requires operators to keep contact information current for remaining obligations.

The instrument suspends unresolved administrative sanctioning proceedings concerning breaches of Law No. 14,790 and its regulations. Those proceedings are to be archived if operators timely fulfil all obligations under the transition chapter.

The documented markers are the 10-day deadline for access withdrawal and the 30-day deadline for extinction of authorizations. No congressional timetable or scheduled SPA or Ministry event is identified; the official measure and any formal congressional action are the records to monitor.