Lula signs MP 1.394/2026 to end bets and online games across BrazilBy Manuela
5 min read
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Brazil’s federal government banned fixed-odds betting, known as bets, and online games across the whole country. The ban came through Provisional Measure (MP) 1.394/2026, a decree that already has force of law while Congress reviews it. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed the measure in São Paulo, and it covers the operation, offer, intermediation and advertising of these bets in physical and digital environments.
The decree was signed together with Finance Minister Dario Carnevalli Durigan and Wellington César Lima e Silva. It revokes most of Law 14.790/2023, which had authorized and regulated the sector. Durigan said the decision came from the harmful effect that bets had in Brazil. The ban also reaches state and district concessions and companies based abroad that operate in the country, but it keeps the traditional lottery games already authorized by law.
What the decree does to 85 licensed operators
The government based the interruption on public health and public interest criteria. The licenses were canceled without any financial refund to the companies that held them. The text states that operators have no right to a refund or compensation from the state.
- Legal instrument: Provisional Measure 1.394/2026, signed in São Paulo (SP)
- Licenses extinguished: 85 authorizations for operation in the country
- Cost per license: R$ 30 million, paid individually by each authorized company
- Total collected from the concessions: R$ 2.55 billion, which will not be returned to the operators
- Maximum administrative fine: R$ 2 billion, plus partial or total suspension of activities
How bettors get back the money left in their accounts
Bettors felt the effect right away, because new deposits were blocked on the day the measure was published in an extra edition of the Diário Oficial da União, the official gazette. Durigan explained that betting sites would stay online until the first deadline so that users could withdraw their balances. Those who did not withdraw in time had the money sent back automatically through banks, using each holder’s CPF, the Brazilian individual taxpayer number.
When a bank could not transfer the money directly to the account holder, the leftover amounts went to Caixa Econômica Federal, a state-owned bank. Caixa took responsibility for returning those funds to the bettors.
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Dates when sites went offline and refunds were paid
The shutdown and refund process followed a staggered schedule between September and October 2026. Every step set by the decree has already passed as of early November. The main dates were:
- September 25, 2026: MP published and new deposits banned
- October 5, 2026, 11:59 p.m.: deadline for voluntary withdrawals and removal of ads and sponsorships
- October 6, 2026: betting sites and apps go offline across the country
- October 7 and 8, 2026: operators send banks the remaining balances by CPF
- October 9 to 14, 2026: banks return the money to bettors
- October 14, 2026: funds blocked by banking problems are transferred to Caixa
Oversight committee and a bill with prison terms for five crimes
To fight the illegal market, the decree created the Comitê Interinstitucional de Fiscalização da Exploração e da Publicidade Ilegal de Apostas de Quota Fixa, an interagency committee coordinated by the Casa Civil, the presidency’s civil office. The Finance and Justice ministries work together to take illegal pages offline. A virtual lab of the Finance Ministry tracks active platforms and alerts the Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas (SPA), which notifies the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to block domains, remove apps and restrict payment methods.
Alongside the MP, the government sent Congress a bill that defines five crimes tied to the sector. Operating fixed-odds bets, even under foreign authorization, carries 4 to 6 years of closed-regime prison (reclusão) plus a fine. The other four offenses carry 2 to 4 years of reclusão plus a fine, and they cover promoting or attracting bettors, using personal data to attract them, providing financial facilitation for the activity, and supplying internet applications for betting. Penalties for data use and app supply rise when children, teenagers, health information or attempts to bypass age and location checks are involved.
Annual social cost estimated at R$ 38.8 billion
A study by the Instituto de Estudos para Políticas de Saúde estimates the social cost of gambling at R$ 38.8 billion a year in Brazil. Of that total, R$ 30.6 billion, almost 79%, is directly tied to health, covering medical treatment, depression and suicides. The World Health Organization (WHO) says suicide mortality among people with gambling disorder is 15 times higher, mainly driven by debt. In the Unified Health System (SUS), care linked to betting problems rose 140% between 2018 and 2025, and a further 104% increase is projected by 2028.
Data from 2023 show that 28 million Brazilians had bet in the previous 12 months, and 10.9 million of them had a risky or problematic gambling pattern. The chance of dependence is three times higher among socioeconomically vulnerable people and 150% higher among online players. Among students in public and private schools, 20.4% had already bet online, with the first bet recorded at age 11, and the rate reached 49.7% among boys in the third year of high school. Among women who bet, 65% did not seek help out of shame.
The decree was issued nine days before the first round of the 2026 elections, scheduled for October 4, 2026. The official text was republished on the Planalto portal at 12:02 a.m. on October 26, 2026, after the electoral period ended.
On Tuesday (3), Attorney General of the Union Jorge Messias defended the validity of the MP at a public hearing convened by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), where entities asked for the measure to be struck down. The MP remains before Congress, which must review it within 60 days, extendable for another 60 days, and the official schedule sets November 23, 2026 as the deadline for the first vote.
