Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) suspended the judgment of ADPF 1212 on Wednesday 4 November 2026, after the reading of the rapporteur’s report and oral arguments, with Court President Justice Edson Fachin signalling that the case should eventually be heard jointly with the other major disputes over gambling, lotteries and fixed-odds betting. No date has been set for the resumption, according to a report by BNLData.
ADPF 1212 was filed by the Solidariedade party against municipal laws and decrees that create, authorise or regulate lotteries and sports betting at local level. The case is reported by Justice Nunes Marques and has state governments and municipal administrations as interested parties.
In December 2025, an injunction granted by Nunes Marques suspended all municipal acts relating to the exploitation of lotteries and ordered the activities to be halted. Without the Plenary’s endorsement, that injunction has now stood for almost a year, leaving municipal lotteries paralysed in the absence of a collegiate decision.
When proclaiming the provisional result, Fachin said he had taken into account the convenience of judging ADPF 1212 together with the other cases on the subject: the direct actions of unconstitutionality (ADIs) against Law 14.790/2023, the actions against MP 1.394/2026 — both under the rapporteurship of Justice Luiz Fux — and Extraordinary Appeal (RE) 966177, which discusses the constitutionality of the ban on games of chance. When the judgment resumes, the Plenary will decide whether to uphold the injunction and may advance to the merits.
The proposal to join the cases came from Justice Flávio Dino, a former Justice Minister in the Lula government. Dino recalled that in the judgment of RE 966177, reported by Fux, he had requested a review — a pedido de vista — on 13 August, and that it had been agreed at the time that all cases on games of chance would be judged together. “Estou pronto a devolver a vista, a critério da presidência e do eminente relator Luiz Fux,” he said.
Fachin said his initial intention had been to judge the themes separately, which was why ADPF 1212 had been scheduled for that Wednesday. The session was devoted to oral arguments at the suggestion of rapporteur Nunes Marques, who considered that the previous day’s public hearing on the bets ADIs could provide elements for the case. Fachin admitted that a joint judgment could be “o caminho doravante” — the way forward from now on.
Fux endorsed the proposal, saying his August review request covered not only bets but also lotteries and the jogo do bicho, requiring a broader approach. He noted that there are four ADIs challenging the law that authorised bets and now four more challenging the constitutionality of the prohibition. “Eu vou precisar de um tempo para elaborar um voto,” Fux said, adding that after the public hearings the betting issue “merece um tratamento coerente”.
Dino argued that, because MP 1.394/2026 is a provisional measure, it would be prudent for the STF to have “um marco legal sólido” before deciding, noting that the framework for the debate includes the Criminal Misdemeanours Law, Decree-Law 204/1967 on lotteries and the provisional measure itself, “que obviamente ainda será deliberada pelo Congresso”.
Fachin accepted the considerations and closed the debate by announcing that the Court would “marchar no sentido de um pregão e julgamento conjunto oportunamente”, taking into account “essa temporalidade e todas as vicissitudes”. MP 1.394/2026 remains in force while the cases await judgment.
By BNLData’s calculations, the provisional measure begins blocking the congressional agenda on 9 November, its initial deadline ends on 23 November and, with the count suspended during the parliamentary recess, it expires on 4 March 2027 if not voted on. The joint committee examining the measure has received 99 amendments but has not yet been installed, nor has it elected a chair and rapporteur.
Meanwhile, operators’ licences lapsed on 25 October and bettors continue migrating to the illegal market, BNLData reported. The outlet also noted that the first full month without regulated betting coincided with the 17th consecutive monthly fall in the ICVA retail index, down 4%, with declines of 8.9% in durable goods and 8.5% in services.
In BNLData’s assessment, the consolidation of the cases serves the interests of the Palácio do Planalto and may make it harder for Fux to issue an injunction on the MP das Bets. The outlet argues there is a contradiction between Dino’s call for the STF to await Congress and the Planalto’s reported wish for the Supreme Court to decide first and render the vote on the provisional measure unnecessary. The regulated sector’s main expectation since the end of the public hearing had been a monocratic decision by Fux suspending the measure — an outcome BNLData says is now harder to justify.
On 9 November 2026, BNLData published an opinion piece headlined “Fux se rendeu ao Alvorada”, concerning a decision that halts the actions against the MP das Bets.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed under the GamblingZine editorial verification process.
Sources
- STF vai julgar em conjunto ações sobre jogos de azar, loterias municipais e bets, sem data definida — Independent reporting (published 2026-11-04)
- bnldata.com.br — Authoritative secondary source
- bnldata.com.br — Authoritative secondary source
- bnldata.com.br — Authoritative secondary source
Reporting verified against the sources above; retrieval timestamps are preserved in the editorial record.